Archangel of Valoran
by J. W. Fox
Summary: Not all angels are good. And none are perfect either. Kayle's quest for "justice" for the angel world and Morgana's use of her dark magic to slowly chip away at Kayle's tyranny has brought nothing but suffering for the angels and the people living down below on Valoran. One angel has plans to change that.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

The forest. Her home. No matter how much time she spent away from it, no matter how much more human she became, she couldn't stop herself from coming back to the same gigantic trees with leaves so thick even the summer weather felt surprisingly cool. She sprinted as fast as she could, alternating between 2 legs and 4, somersaulting through the trees at ridiculous speeds, stopping a moment on the thick branch of a large oak tree to catch her breath. Sitting down, she pulled the orange she brought with her out of her pocket, peeling it using mostly her teeth and tossing the scattered pieces of the peel aside. Pulling the sections of the orange apart, she ate is slowly, savoring it's strong and tangy taste. She stood up after a few moments, licking the citris juice off her lips, and stretching her legs. She hoped Zyra wouldn't mind her taking the orange from the plant-woman's garden a few hours back

She took a brief looking around, unable to get a good view from her current altitude. She began scaling the oak higher, her abnormal agility (at least for human standards) making it an easy task. She finally stopped on what she thought was the last stable branch, now almost 100 feet in the air, overlooking the Ionian shore, the sun now almost directly above her. The island's largest city about 6 miles to her left casted almost no shadow at this hour, the entire island brightly lit and shine sparkling like a...giant bottle of seltzer, or something. Gods, she was so bored of this view. Hell, she was bored with the world.

Everyday since she joined the League, she came looking at this same, tired view almost everyday. Valoran was so small on its own, not to mention half of it was unexplorable since it was either Noxian or Zaun territory, infested with deadly monsters, or a barren desert or tundra. She couldn't travel with other people since she wasn't really aligned with any of Valoran's many factions, and most people, even other champions, wouldn't even come near her to due her...origins. The Summoner's Rift matches at the Institute of War were very rarely interesting themselves. She did love herself a good fight, but fighting the same champions over and over again in the mid lane was getting tiring, even in the heat of a battle. The ONE thing that should never get boring. She sighed loudly before kicking the trunk of the tree in frustration, startling any and all birds nearby. She looked longingly up at the sky, her golden eyes shining in the light of the sun.

* * *

"He's getting away!" Gods, how many people had yelled that at him in the past hour. 50? 60? Eh, didn't matter. Even with his cloak slowing him down, they weren't going to catch him. And if the DID...they were not in for a good time. He ran through the streets with buildings seemingly made out of pure gold, dashing around every corner and throwing anyone he saw out of the way. Or, in the case of a soldier, slicing them out of the way. He certainly wouldn't harm innocents, but the soldiers, they were actually interfering with his goals. It's like his father always said: "I hate the government."

_How long have they been chasing me now, an hour?_ He stopped abruptly as another soldier interrupted his thoughts. For whatever reason, he decided to ignore this one, just teleporting around him when he got close. He was sure some of the soldiers could use magic too...though nowhere near as effective. It was hard to believe only 2 hours ago, he was just a normal, arrogant, young adult. Now he was the confirmed leader of the resistance.

Another soldier took a swing at him, and this time he was not as merciful. Drawing his swords in the blink of an eye, he stabbed the soldier straight through the chest, tossing him aside and winking at a little boy to distract him from what he just saw. He knew he wouldn't be dead though. It took a lot more than that to kill a...

Finally, he reached the literally end of the road, a step drop into a seemingly endless pit, though he knew he'd reach the "bottom" eventually. He just needed to fight his way through ONE more onslaught of soldiers. Besides, there were only like...30 of them. No problem.

He dashed right in the middle of them, swing both of his swords in a circle around him and shooting magic all over the place. He blocked or dodged and sword, spear, or magic bolts flying towards him, slashing through the soldiers, not killing or even knocking any of them unconscious. As the last soldier went down, he approached the impossibly step cliff and turned to address the soldiers.

"Ya know, for a bunch of trained soldiers, none of you seem to know the first thing about combat..." most of them were writhing in pain on the ground, but a few turned to listen to his words. "...there's no point in fighting an impossible battle. I bid you, farewell," he finished, delivering a fake bow to go along with it. Without turning around, he leaped off of the cliff, descending into the blue skies and thick clouds below. He took in a breathe of fresh air, flipping around in an attempt to untie his burly cloak, when something hit him in the back of the head, exploding in a blast of light.

He groaned in pain, flipping around to see what hit him. From all above him, bolts of light magic were raining down on him. _So, they finally called in the mages. _He attempted to put of a magic barrier to defend himself, but was too late as another blasts of light hit him square in the face. He was sure they were sending people after him as well. He got into a diving position, barely conscious now, as more magic pelted him form above. As he finally slipped away, he prayed the landing wouldn't be as hard as he thought it would be...


	2. Chapter 2: Astral Faceplant

She was just starting to climb down from her perch in the trees when something caught her eye. She held her hand up to her face attempting to block out the sun as her eyes found something else in the bright blue skies. _What the hell is that? _Whatever it was seemed to be descending towards the ground. Certainly not slowly either. The...ball, which she could just barely make out to be black and white, was hurdling towards Ionia as ridiculous speeds. Intrigued, she watched it right up until it crash landed in the forests, maybe a mile away, surprisingly making almost no sound whatsoever. She smiled to herself. _Maybe this'll be my lucky day. 'Been waiting for something interesting to happen around here. _She began flipping down the trees thickening branches, slowly making her way to whatever just took out about 10 trees and 3 birds on it's way down.

* * *

...

..._Wake up..._

_..._

_...get up moron..._

"OW!" The pain made him sit upright, then immediately fall back down on this face, forcing another "OW!" to escape his lips. He lay there for a few seconds, the pain slowly subsiding. It was lucky that he healed so quickly. He honestly didn't even expect to survive the fall.

Where did that voice come from? He swore he heard someone telling him to wake up...eh, screw it. It was probably just his subconsciousness telling him to get off his ass. He finally stood up, stretching out his tense muscles, and started surveying his surroundings. It was...certainly a forest. Gods, he knew he didn't study enough about this world before hand. Other than the thick vines and ferns littering the ground and thick trees, there was nothing to identify this place with any of the landscapes he studied. He spent way to much time reading about the institute itself...and he had no intention of trusting the locals to help him get there.

Wow... he created quite the the crater when he crashed. Multiple layers of dirt where stacked in a large circle around him, and several trees were knocked to the ground as well. He finally noticed that his whole face and garb were covered in dirt and grass. _Good thing i was wearing this ugly-ass cloak..._He started wiping himself off, and had just taken his first step when he heard footsteps nearby. He quickly dashed behind a tree, not wanting to get discovered. Then again, he didn't even know if this area was inhabited by anyone. He was sure the crash disturbed SOMETHING other than the few trees he knocked down, and were those bird corpses?

He didn't even hear it sneak up on him. Hell, he didn't know it jumped at him until it's jaws clamped onto his shoulder. "Ah-DAMN!" He yelled, throwing the creature to this side before drawing his swords and stabbing what he hoped was it's throat. After he was sure the creature was dead, he gave himself a moment to examine the wound. First crash-landing on his face, now a bite in the shoulder? He clutched the spot where the...wolf, he realized, bit him, pulling his hand away to find fresh blood staining his fingers. It hurt, but it didn't seem to severe. He had certainly been slashed and bit by worse.

He's was about to start exploring his surroundings when he tensed up once again. _Don't wolves usually travel in packs? _His question was answered as he was ambushed by at least six more of the huge beasts.

* * *

_What's going on up there? _She picked up the pace as she heard multiple growls and the sounds of fighting from the crash site of that...thing from earlier. She finally came into view of the giant crater that crash had caused and stopped when she saw what was going on. A man in a burly brown cloak was dashing around a battlefield occupied only by wolves. He was almost impossible to distinguish from the creatures he was fighting as they were about the same size and his cloak resembled the wolves' pelts. It didn't help with how quickly he was moving, almost teleporting as he slaughtered the monsters swarming him. She was about to jump in to help him, but...something told her he didn't need it. The growing pack of wolves, she had seen almost 20 now, didn't seem to come CLOSE to hitting him. She grinned to herself. _I'll help him if he slips up. _Taking a familiar perch on the branch of a tree, she watched, ready to help out if he needed it.

* * *

Gods, there were so many of them. At most he expected ten or fifteen, but thirty was kinda pushing it for a single pack of wolves. Unless his crash had stirred up the entire forest? That seemed at least as likely as getting attacked by this amount of wolves at once. If that were the case though, this could go on for awhile.

It didn't matter how many there were anyhow. He literally took on thirty trained soldiers (he assumed) just a few hours back, so thirty uncoordinated wolves wasn't a problem, even with his now-minor injuries. They were no match for his speed, dashing whenever they attempted to pounce on him and stabbing and slashing at them when they went in for bites. One tackled him at some point, it's jaws only inches from his face and it's claws digging into his sides. Holding back a yell of pain, he slammed his sword into the beast's side before kicking it into another as its life left its body. He jumped up and took out the last few with a spinning slash uses both of his blades. He wasn't too fond of the idea of killing this many, especially not all at once, and especially since he was technically the one to aggro them. Still, running from a pack of wolves didn't sound like the best idea.

Finally, the last of them fell, at last giving himself a moment of peace. He was impressed with himself for surviving without the use of magic. His blood-stained swords still shined in the faint light of the trees. Luckily no one had found him yet...

"Hey!" Came an enthusiastic voice, not far away. _Oh gods. _He turned around and found a strange-looking woman sitting in a nearby tree. Judging by her position, she'd been there a while now.

"How long have you been sitting there?!" He yelled back. "Ever cross your mind to give me a hand back there?"

"Well, you obviously didn't need my help. I was ready to jump in any time!" She responded, swinging her legs over the branch before jumping down, landing gracefully on both feet. She seemed pretty young, probably early twenties, with long black hair curling at her shoulders and pale skin. Her eyes were a dark golden color, though he swear they randomly looked blue sometimes for no apparent reason. She seemed fairly tall, probably the same height as himself, and was certainly very skinny. Her most defining features became apparent really quickly, as her triangular ears on the top of her head and nine long and white fox-tails trailing behind her came into view. He recognized her immediately, seeing as he spent about 60% of his time studying about the Institute of War on the champions that inhabited it. "I'm-"

"I know who the are, Ahri, The Nine-Tailed Fox, mid lane ability power carry, primarily a mage but sometimes played as an assassin..." He cut her off in an uninterested tone.

"Whoa...did your research pretty boy?" She replied, a slightly annoyed look on her face.

"Yeah...literally." He said with a smirk on his face. Ahri looked around, observing the amount of damage he caused when he slammed into the ground.

"So, I'm assuming you know what caused this...crater?" She asked, taking another look around at the smashed and now-bloodstained ground. "Meteor or something?"

"Nah, just my face," he responded, overly casual about the situation.

"So, you fell from the sky."

"Maybe." She sighed, his vague comments starting to annoy her.

"Look, I didn't come over here to be pissed off by a cryptic..." she cut herself off, only just noticing the large bulges of his cloak behind his back. "...person."

"And I didn't just fall five-thousand feet to be bombarded with questions from a slutty fox chick running around in the woods," he countered, clearly as annoyed as she was. He was about to say more, but stopped himself. He could hear the sound of footsteps coming close. People. At least a dozen of them.

He grabbed Ahri and pulled her close, whispering in a seemingly desperate voice. "Listen," he said. She tried to pull away, but he held onto her shoulders tightly.

"Hel-" she tried to yell to the approaching posse, still far enough away not to hear after he stifled her cry.

"I need you to take me to the Institute of War. Now." This caught her off guard. She finally pulled away from him, now intrigued. She copied his whispering tone;

"Why should I?"

"Because, if you don't, I'll just stab you and make my way there myself," he countered.

"I dunno, you seem a little desperate," she said, dropping the whisper and turning around to project her voice to the oncoming people. He was sure they heard that outburst. "Why so determined to keep hidden?"

"Take me to the Institute!" He was almost yelling now, the footsteps now coming incredibly fast. She smiled at him, playfully crossing her arms.

"What's the magic word?" Now that caught him off-guard.

"Please?" He half asked. She tilted her head a little, then shrugged.

"Follow me" She ordered, then immediately sprinted away from the crowd of approaching people. He didn't hesitate, following almost as quickly as she had left, just out of view and earshot of the confused villagers stumbled into the odd area, even more baffled than Ahri had been moments before.

* * *

_Who was this guy?_ Ahri had been running a few minutes now, rapidly approaching the shore with...whoever he was right behind her. She had barely even seem his face, which was partially hidden by what she assumed to be dirty-blonde hair. He also had a long streak of black hair curving down the side of his face, though she was pretty sure it wasn't natural. She came to a sudden halt inches from the beaches along the cost of Ionia. By this point, those villagers had probably given up on the "chase" anyways.

"Alright, who are you?" She asked in a commanding tone. He almost ran into her, startled by the sudden halt. She noticed they were almost exactly the same height, him only being about half an inch taller. He looked surprised, as if he was expecting her to just cross the ocean with him without asking any questions.

"...It's none of your concern." He replied. She gave him a pissed-looked, then promptly slapped him in the face, knocking his hood off in the process. "AH! The hell is wrong with you?!" She finally got a good look at him. She was right about the dirty-blonde hair, which came down almost to his nose and brushed over his right eye in the front and halfway down his neck in the back. What really stood out to her was his perfect complexion and his odd gray eyes. They almost seemed to...dance with energy. She swore the colors were swirling.

"I'm not bringing you to the Institute of War unless you give me some kinda idea who you are! I'd hate to let _another_ evil sorcerer in..." she yelled.

"Look," he began, ignoring her slap. "I'd rather be kept inconspicuous right now. They're probably already on their way to look for me..."

"WHO'S THEY?!" She screamed.

"FINE I'LL TELL YOU!" He sighed, then took a seat on the ground. "I'm assuming you already know I'm from...up there." he started. She nodded, then gestured for him to continue. "Lets just say I have a little...let's say, operation, going on...and I need more supporters." he finished.

"Sounds like you're some kind of cultists to me."

"...That doesn't mean I'm doing it for an evil purpose." She raised her eyebrows, clearly skeptical of the whole thing.

"I want more details."

"You'll find out soon enough anyways." He had a casual expression on his face, though his eyes were tense.

"So what you're saying is, you won't tell me anything so I don't have enough information to judge who you are? You're pretty shady." He looked up at her, clearly desperate for help. She wondered if this guy had any friends, seeming as he came here by himself. Besides, this could be the time waster she was looking for. Worst-case scenario she didn't join his so-called "operation." " Can you at least tell me your name?"

"...Ky."

"Ky." She repeated. Suddenly, a wide smile spread across her face. She reached out her hand to shake his. "Nice to meet you Ky!" That must've caught him off guard, because he sat there for at least five seconds before reaching up and shaking her hand. His personality was hard to pin down. Same as her, she supposed.

"Now will you PLEASE help me reach the Institute of War?" She pretended to contemplate it, then replied;

"Sure was just heading back there before you showed up." she said with a smirk on her face. A ring of blue light formed around her seemingly out of nowhere. "Lucky for you, the summoners gave us a spell to warp nearby the Institute for when we get called in for matches."

"...And why didn't you do this sooner?"

"Um, because we were being chased and I still had no idea who you were? I still don't really, so be grateful I'm helping you at all. Now, take my hand.

He nodded, grabbing her hand. "Thank you." After three seconds, and another flash of light, they were gone.

...Moments later, a small group of villagers stumble into the tree clearing, clearly aggravated from the long walk. Realizing it was in vain, they collectively sighed and began the long trek home.


	3. Chapter 3: A Warm Welcome

**Hey guys, before this chapter starts I just want to mention that LoL has a very odd mix of magic, swords, guns, and even stuff like lazers, so it was kinda hard to determine how advanced the technology is in the world. I decided to go with modern technology, but a lot of people still use old technology for traditional reasons. Modern technology basically means stuff like cars, phones, and T.V.s. Lets hope this doesn't get awkward...**

* * *

Ky found himself crouching next to Ahri in a completely different area. He no longer felt the cool ocean breeze of Ionia, but was now in an almost desert-like area with very little vegetation, the full summer heat now reaching him. The ground was an odd mixture of sand and...marshland? He was sure he had studied this...

"Wait...correct me if I'm wrong, but this continent has no sense of geography whatsoever, right?" he asked Ahri, who was brushing some of the sand off her white and red kimono.

"You could say that," she responded, standing up to stretch her back. "You have a desert right next to a jungle, an icy tundra right across from a polluted wasteland..." she trailed off, clearly showing she had never even considered this before. "Now that you mention it, that makes no sense." He crossed his arms and took another look around. There was hardly anything obstructing his view, nor any animals to distract him. They were right next to a long dirt road, seemingly endless as it stretched all the way to the horizon to his left. He could make out some vehicles traversing it in the distance, another odd mixture of the recently improved cars and carriages pulled by horses. The sun now just beginning its decent towards the horizon, it was now easy to tell which way was westward and which was eastern.

"I'm assuming that's the Institute of War?" he asked, pointing towards the west, about a mile down the road. She turned, nodding to confirm his theory. The Institute was huge, much larger than he had expected. It was at least five times larger than any of the other cities he had learned about on the entirety of Valoran, including Demacia and Noxus. The wide road ran right through the center of it, probably going through to the other side he guessed, with the whole thing seemingly split into two halves. It's width honestly caught him off guard, granted it did house over one-hundred champions and thousands of summoners. Even the walls were impressive, the massive structures glowing in what he only could assume were protective spells. He could imagine how tight the security was. "Gods..."

"Pretty cool right?" Ahri inclined, finished contemplating the legitimacy of Valoran's climate. "C'mon, I'll tell you more about it on the way over." With that, she began leisurely walking towards the large "city." He followed her, already beginning to sweat in the intense heat and his relatively thick brown cloak.

Wiping his forehead, he asked "Couldn't you have put us any closer?"" While he couldn't see her face, he could tell she was rolling her eyes.

"Please, they don't just let people teleport in and out of the place. They have a barrier stopping people from getting to close." He nodded, content with her answer. It would be pretty easy to break in if you could just show up at any time. "So how much did you learn about the Institute before you got here?"

"To be completely honest, I spent a lot more time studying the champions and more famous summoners that inhabit it. Gotta learn what appeals to who when gathering followers, ya know?" He responded, attempting to keep his tone casual and once again ignoring the intense heat. He didn't dare take off his cloak though, still paranoid that he was being followed and wanting to remain inconspicuous. He just needed to make it to the city...

"Hmm, you might have a little trouble with that," she informed him.

"How so?"

"Well, lets just say it's a little hard to please everyone down here, with the multiple warring factions and all. What exactly is your cause again?"

He smirked, once again shrugging off the heat, struggling to maintain a straight face. "Nice try, but I don't wanna have to explain it more than once. I hate having to repeat myself," he replied in a cocky voice. She shrugged it off, spinning around on her purple sneakers to get a better look at him. He could see the determination in her eyes to learn more about him.

"Ya know, you're sweating a lot." she commented. "It miiiiiiiiight be that heavy cloak. You could take it off, you know." At that moment, he looked up, and swore he saw a series of black silhouettes before they seemingly disappeared. He tensed up. _Maybe this cloak won't keep me hidden at all... _ "Something wrong?"

He suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm, spinning her around and began sprinting towards the Institute. "We gotta move. NOW!" he yelled. They couldn't have been more than a half of a mile away at this point. The giant system of buildings surrounded by a thick stone wall and a protective magical barrier came closer and closer into his view, a large gate at the front where the road met the outer walls. The entrance had several guards standing off to the side, who seemed to take notice of the two now running towards them. He couldn't shake the paranoia that he could still be captured at this moment, refusing to slow down until he reached the soldiers...and maybe it had something to do with the overly intense heat, though it was mainly the first thing.

"Whoa! What's the rush?" she asked. As if to answer her, a bolt of light magic hit the ground right next to them, kicking up the sand into their eyes. "Ah! What the hell was that?" He had a feeling they'd turn up at the last second. The potentially deadly magic continued to rain down, himself and Ahri separating to give themselves more room to dodge. He looked up in an attempt to see the attackers, though the light blinded him before he could make anything out. He looked back forward to see the guards moving towards them, though he was unsure whether it was to reprimand them or to help them.

"Eugh!" came a shout from behind him. He whipped around to see Ahri blasted to the ground by a bolt of light just missing it's mark, with more on the way.

* * *

Ahri hit the ground hard with her back, pain rushing through her body and giving her no time to recover. She involuntarily looked towards the sky, seeing the many arcane projectiles heading towards her, partially blinding her vision. In what she believed to be her final thoughts, she cursed herself for being stupid enough to help a guy clearly in over his head. She squeezed her eyes shut...

...

..._Wow, those guys must have really bad aim..._

She finally opened her eyes, which widened when she saw Ky standing over her, a protective barrier of what she assumed was his own light magic around them. She hadn't realized he could use magic, considering he didn't use any when fighting the wolves from earlier. After holding his ground for what seemed like an eternity, the light stopped falling and the silhouettes...flew away. She saw him finally relax, letting his guard drop and the barrier deteriorate. He turned around, surprisingly looking completely unphased at all despite his continuous use of magic. She smiled, ignoring the pain in her back and slowly getting up before the soldiers at last reached them. They were panting, clearly tired from their long run, while as Ky stood with even more energy than he had this entire time, yet he still did not remove the robe.

"If it's alright with you..." he began, eyes closed. "...I'd like to talk to someone about joining the Institute of War," he finished, eyes suddenly bursting open. The swirling she saw earlier in his eyes had seemed to intensify from his use of magic.

"Who are you, and why were those people attacking you?" a soldier asked, the leader, she assumed.

"I'm Ky," he answered. "And if you don't mind, I'd rather talk to the person in charge. I'm assuming you can take me to him?" he asked, pushing past them without an answer. He stopped abruptly and turned to Ahri. "You alright?"

"Y-yes," she stuttered, though she wasn't sure why she did. "Thank you...Ky," she finished, her smile growing. He smiled back, a small, yet somehow very meaningful smile. He barely knew her and could have just as well let her die in that attack, so she felt a certain gratitude. The soldiers seemed unsure of whether or not to reprimand Ky or just escort him, although it looked like they eventually decided to do the latter, with Ahri following close behind.

* * *

Ky finally approached the front entrance of the Institute of War, he and the soldiers escorting him walking right by other people waiting in line to get in. Their looks went from amazed to intrigued to annoyed as he passed them by, especially when Ahri playfully shrugged before jogging to catch up with him. He was stopped again at the entrance for hopefully the last time by an incredibly bored looking woman behind a booth. She seemed fairly old, probably about fifty-seven, and was wearing a summoner robe, though he somehow doubted she had any magical capabilities. He decided he wanted to keep this quick.

"Um...hello?" he asked, wondering if she had even noticed the action a few minutes back.

"I'm going to speed this up a bit and assume you're looking to become a champion of the Institute of War, what with all that fancy magic stuff you were doing earlier." She spoke quickly, clearly bored with her job. "I say champion 'cuz most summoners don't come here being bombarded by people trying to kill them." So she had noticed the commotion.

"Yes, and if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to the person in charge..."

"I'll send for him." she cut him off. She turned away, briefly talking into what seemed to be a type of phone. "Any weapons?"

"...yeah," he said reluctantly pulling and holding out his swords. He saw Ahri lean over to get a look at them out of the corner of his eye. They were mostly the same, thin and about 3 feet long each, with the same thin hilts and sharp edges. The biggest difference between the two were their colors. One was bright white, almost blinding to look at, and the other jet black, almost blending into the edge of the booth. "Are you allowed to carry weapons in there?" he asked.

"They allow it in most areas, though if you use them...lets say it won't be pretty." She responded. She pulled a clipboard out from under he desk. "Name?"

"Ky."

"Height?"

He nervously scratched the spot behind his ear. "5'11"." He heard a stifled giggle from behind him, and turned around to see Ahri covering her mouth with one hand. Yeah, he was pretty damn short. It had benefited him in combat before on multiple occasions. No one was ever intimidated by him 'till he kicked their asses.

"Age?"

He paused for a moment, then quickly answered; "23,654 years and 3 months." The woman raised her eyebrows, and he could feel Ahri's eyes staring into him in complete confusion.

"Race?!"

He opened his mouth to answer but was cut off as a quiet rumbling sound filled the air. The small gate just big enough to incorporate the road and made out of the same stone as the walls had slowly began to pull apart. When they finally quieted, three men in half purple, half blue robes began to approach them through the opening, and Ky could make out more activity behind them. One of them strode out ahead of the others, his robe much more decorated with odd looking symbols and bits and pieces of gold designs than the other two. He also appeared slightly older, though it was hard to tell since half of his accomplices' faces were covered by their hoods. "Ah, so you're the one who caused all the commotion a few minutes ago!" He called in a enthusiastic voice. Ky got a better look at his clean-shaved face as he came closer. His dark brown eyes, even in his current excited attitude, seemed to be observing his every surrounding, and his face was thin and looked hard as stone.

"'Caused' is a strong word," Ky retorted. He got a strange urge to bow in front of this man, but decided instead to casually fold his arms behind his head. He could sense the man's strong magically power. "It was more like an attack."

"Ah," was the all the man said as a response. "So, what's your name boy?"

"Ky," he responded. "I'm assuming you're in charge here?" he ventured, eager to move things along.

"Yes, I am the head summoner," he began. "You may call me Drake Vayl." Vayl took a few steps towards him, making no gesture of greeting. He stood a few inches taller than Ky, staring down at him with the same observing eyes he always seemed to wear. He wasn't sure why, but something about Vayl intimidated him despite his seemingly calm nature. He appeared slightly younger than in the pictures Ky had studied of him, and could not have been more than forty. Finally, after what felt like hours, Vayl took a few steps back before speaking again. "So, from what I hear, you are looking to join the Institute of War as a champion for the League of Legends?"

"Yeah." he answered quickly. "Forgive me, but it's been a long day, and I know it'll probably take an even longer time for me to 'officially' join, so could we speed things along?" Vayl said nothing in response for a few seconds, and the expression on his face never changed for this time, the same odd and constantly observing eyes. Ky became worried that he had offended him, until he finally spoke again.

"I don't blame you." was all he said at first. "Believe me, the process doesn't take quite as long as you might think, though it varies depending on the situation. However, there are certainly a few...things, to be addressed." Vayl looked at Ahri for the first time since Ky arrived. "Ahri, didn't you have a match on Summoner's Rift starting about now?" Her ears perked up.

Ahri at last snapped out of her stunned looked, still in shock over Ky's age. "Is it five already?!" she almost yelled. "Oh geez, I didn't even have time to shower!" She ran past Ky and Vayl and almost out of sight before turning around. "I'll...see ya later Ky!"

"Uh, yeah, later." was all he said back. The smile she gave him was pleasant, her eyes said something along the lines of _I WILL find out who you are_ before she turned and sprinted off. He honestly wasn't sure how he felt about the fox-girl quite yet. She was hard to get a handle on, and her reputation for stealing souls to become more and more human was a pretty huge turn-off.

"Now then Ky, I'd like to know a little bit more about where you come from, as well as why you were attack earlier." He suddenly looked really embarrassed. "Oh my, I haven't even asked if you were injured!"

"I'm fine, thanks," Ky assured him. "I'm pretty sure those guys wouldn't have hit me if I were standing still." Vayl laughed at this, before continuing on as if he had never interrupted himself.

"Would you mind coming with me and my associates? We have much to discuss if you are to join us here." Vayl and his lesser summoners had already begun walking back inside the Institute's walls. "And do hurry, I have a lot of other matters I need to attend to."

"Oh, yeah, sure." Ky began following them, at last entering his destination. It hadn't even been a full day since he left his old home, and yet he was already close to achieving the first step to complete his goals. He smiled to himself as the small gates behind him once again closed.


	4. Chapter 4: Unwanted Reunion

Ky got his first glance at the inside of the Institute of War, and was impressed for the second time by the sheer size of the complex. A paved road wider than the dirt one he and Ahri had arrived on sprawled out in front of him, going on for what seemed like miles before ending at a giant fountain. The amount of activity going on was almost overwhelming, with summoners and champions going every direction even in the relatively small area they were in.

"Damn, this place is pretty busy huh?" He asked Vayl, then realized his mistake in addressing the head summoner with that kind of language. He bit his lip. "Uh, sorry for my informality...

"Oh, it's quite alright. The only times I hear formal language are when I'm meeting with other summoners. Most people have loose tongues around here." Ky nodded, his hands in the pockets of his over-sized cloak. Most people they passed by respectfully bowed to Vayl, but payed Ky and the two other summoners they were traveling with no attention, as if they hadn't even seen them. He knew he was decent at blending into the background, but he figured the strange traveler in the heavy cloak walking with the head summoner and his...assistants?...deserved a little more attention. Speaking of his assistants, they had removed the hoods of their robes and were speaking in hushed voices. They looked almost identical from the backside, with their almost comically bright red hair and equally sized bodies.

"Twins?" He asked. One of them turned around, addressing Ky for what seemed like the first time.

"Yeah." Was all he said back. Ky raised an eyebrow.

"These are my nephews, as well as my assistants...and supposedly my bodyguards." Vayl added. Ky stifled a laugh.

"Can't say I see the family resemblance." He said. "And they definitely don't look too threatening." Both of them had turned around, and just like from the back, they looked almost exactly the same, with dull browns eyes, bright red hair, and a seemingly infinite amount of freckles. The only physical difference between the two that Ky could notice was that they had different length hair. One of them had it cut short, while the other had hair almost down to his shoulders and swept across his face, very similar to Ky's.

"Most mages don't." The long-haired one said, a bored look in his eyes. Their voices were relatively high-pitched, and they couldn't have been older than fifteen.

"Well, aren't you charming." Ky retorted.

"Same to you." Unexpectedly, he held his hand out to Ky. "I'm Derek."

"Ky," he said, shaking Derek's hand. Derek's brother held out his hand as well.

"Tyler Dewmal." Ky shook his hand as well.

"Now that the introductions are over..." Vayl interrupted. "I believe you have some explaining to do." Ky almost flinched when he saw Vayl's eyes. There was...something odd about them. It was almost that same look he had given Ky earlier, as if he was learning everything about him just by eyesight. But, there was something else to his stare this time...curiosity? His tone of voice had changed from his surprisingly friendly attitude to a more serious tone. Vayl practically radiated intimidation, which he guessed was a normal trait for someone in his position of power. "Who are you, why have you come here, and why were you attacked outside the gates?"

"Finally getting down to business, eh?" Ky replied, placing his hands behind his head. "First thing's first, you should probably know I'm not human...also, I'm probably about 23,000 years older than you." Vayl's expression didn't change, though it certainly caught Derek and Tyler off-guard. He reached to take off his heavy cloak. "I'm actually a..."

"Head Summoner Vayl!" Interrupted what sounded like a female voice. Ky's hand froze, and his eyes briefly widened. He recognized that voice. He'd hoped it would be a little longer before he ran into her. Someone in full golden armor, reflecting the sun's light so well Ky felt he almost had to squint when he looked in their direction, was moving towards them at incredible speeds. The person's armor was tinted red towards the edges, with red cloth worn underneath as well. What really caught Ky's attention, other than her voice, were her wings. Sprouting from her back, they were almost bigger than her whole body, covered in bright white feathers that reflected the light almost as well as her armor and helmet. She used them to carry her forward, flying a few feet above the ground. She came to an abrupt stop just in front of them, her feet skimming the ground for a moment, before she continued talking to the head summoner as if Ky wasn't there. That seemed to be a recurring theme with these people. "I finished preparations for the tournament. Representatives from each city of Runeterra will be there."

"Kayle." Ky spat the name, his disgust growing just from the sight of her. She was one of the most famous angel figures who have ever lived, both their political leader and one of two angel's to actually live among the creatures on the surface of the planet. She seemed very preoccupied, not just with organizing whatever tournament she was talking about, but also with something else. He figured if she hadn't heard about what had happened only hours before, she certainly would soon. She turned to him.

"Have we met?" she asked. He grunted.

"Several times." He figured she hadn't recognized him yet, and he hoped she noticed his disgust. She sighed.

"Never under good terms, I suppose?" She turned back to Vayl. "May I ask who this is, Drake?" Ky crossed his arms, surprised she had used Vayl's first name. He had heard Kayle was the closest champion to Vayl, though he hadn't thought them that close.

"Well, I can't seem to figure that out myself." Vayl said with a slight chuckle. His serious attitude had once again dropped. "All I know is that his name is Ky-"

Kayle immediately tensed up, bringing her right hand to the sword strapped to her side. "Sir, back away from him. He needs to be taken into custody." She said in a rushed, monotone voice. Vayl raised an eyebrow.

"Heh, so you have heard what's going on up there." Ky put in. "Thought you'd be to absorbed with your ego to notice anything." Kayle began moving towards him cautiously.

"I'd rather not take you by force, Ky," she said. He scoffed at her.

"Sure you wouldn't. Honestly, I'm in the mood for a fight right about now, and I've been waiting a long time to kick your sorry ass, Kayle." Vayl and the Dewmal brothers had backed up a considerable distance at this point, though Vayl surprised Ky having made no motion to stop the apparent fight about start between him and Kayle. The head summoner had once again donned his curious look.

"Fine, have it your way, traitor!" she yelled, before drawing her sword and propelling herself towards him with her wings. He reacted quickly, dashing out of the way of her lunge and creating a few yards of distance between them.

"You've had this coming for a long time, Kayle!" Ky once again reached for his cloak, and this time, threw it off in one swift motion. Underneath, he wore a thin and versatile robe that was black on the right half, white on the other half. It also finally revealed his wings, almost the same size as Kayle's, except his right wing had pitch black feathers instead of white, the same colors as his robe. He drew his swords, wielding the pitch black sword in his right hand and shining white sword in his left. He became enveloped in rays of his own magic, white and black colors swirling around him, especially prominent in his swords and eyes.

Ky jumped to the left as Kayle fired a barrage of her iconic light projectiles, the fiery hot blasts scorching the grass where they landed. He was surprised Kayle had engaged in a fight with all these innocent people around. Then he remembered who he was talking about. He lifted himself into the air with his wings and returned her fire with his own small bolts of light and dark magic. The thin projectiles barely seemed to phase Kayle when they landed, some even just bouncing off her armor. Kayle swiftly recovered from the barrage of magic and joined him in the air, launching towards him almost faster than he could react. She slashed at him with her golden sword, which he quickly deflected before returning with his own attacks. The two dashed around each other using their wings, delivering blows that were inevitably blocked. It surprised Ky that Kayle could move almost as fast as him while she was wearing her armor. Even when he occasionally hit her with his swords, she barely even flinched. Realizing they won't going to hurt each other this way, he teleported away in a flash of light. Kayle blinked her eyes a few times to clear her vision, before looking around to see where he'd gone. She spotted him back on the ground a good distance away on top of a small hill.

"Has spending so much time with mortals made you weaker, Kayle?" He began, a cocky smirk on his face. "You were at least SOME challenge when we used to spar."

"Please, as if i would waste my full strength dealing with YOU!" she yelled before diving toward him. Just before she got close enough to slash at him, he disappeared. Kayle managed to stop herself before slamming the ground, though she couldn't see Ky from a moment's glance. She scanned the area around her slowly, noticing the crowd that had gathered around them for the first time. She also met eyes with Vayl briefly, though she couldn't quite make out his expression. He didn't seem angry, and still hadn't reacted to the violence that had broken out. Which was odd, considering she had always known him to dispel any violence that broke out in the Institute as soon as possible.

Ky noticed her lock eyes with Vayl, and took this as his opportunity to attack. He moved along the ground as a shadow, stealthily moving towards her until he was right next to her. He saw her notice him a second too late, as he rose from beneath her and knocked her into the air with his swords. From there, he shot out a tendril of pure dark magic from his hand and wrapped it around her leg, slamming her back towards the ground again and again. Her heard her cries of pain coming from her helmet, which only brought more satisfaction from hurting her.

Just when he thought she was about to pass out, a large column of fire erupted in-between him and Kayle, severing his grip on her leg and forcing him to shield his eyes. The heat from the fire almost burned his face as he backed up a few feet before the fire vanished, leaving no imprint on the grass, and sheathed his weapons. The magic swirling around him had also disappeared. He turned to see Vayl raising his hand, and odd light emanating from it. Ky had just noticed the large amount of summoners that had gathered around them, some staring at him with hostility, at Kayle sympathetically, or just looking confused. He shared some of their confused looks, surprised he had attacked Kayle for so long. He did hate her, but he had no intention of killing her...at least, not in front of a crowd.

His thoughts were interrupted as a hand violently grabbed his arm. He look behind him to see Vayl guiding him away from the area, not even checking to see if Kayle was alright. He did manage to get a glimpse of a few people helping her up as Vayl basically pushed him towards a large building not too far in the distance. Ky didn't argue, though no words were passed between them as they walked. He couldn't tell if Vayl was angry or not, his face absolutely free of any expression.

Ky thought more about Vayl as they moved towards the structure. That flame that Vayl himself had obviously summoned wasn't particularly strong, though he could somehow tell Vayl put almost no effort into conjuring it. He was certainly mysterious, though he assumed Vayl felt the same way about him.

The section of the Institute they were heading towards was made up of older looking buildings made almost entirely out of smooth stone and a lot of columns. Most of the buildings were connected to a large central building by corridors running along the ground. It seemed like that was the one they were heading to.

Ky's theory soon proved correct as Vayl stopped just outside the impressive building's large oak-wood doors. He turned back to Ky.

"Listen, angel. Wait here until I announce you in. And if you choose to flee while I'm gone, then you can forget being welcome here in the future." Ky scoffed when he heard the term "welcome," but nodded his consent to Vayl. As soon as Vayl had stepped inside the building, Ky sat a short stone wall lining the walkway they had traveled on, head in his hands, debating whether or not to turn back. After his fight with Kayle, there was a good chance they'd just lock his ass in prison and move on. Then again...maybe Vayl was organizing a meeting to decided his initiation into the Institute? He held onto this chance as he sat, for what seemed like the first time in forever when he was in total silence.

* * *

**Hey guys, I just want to make a quick note that I kind of used his first fight with Kayle as a demonstration of a lot of Ky's abilities, particularly their combat use. Yeah, the shadow thing was...kinda a Zed clone, but...screw it. Also, the whole "tendril of darkness" move is mostly based off the black symbiote from the Spider-Man franchise. Kinda makes it sound less cool now that I think about...and just so we're clear, his light teleport move can't go that far, so he can't just go wherever the hell he wants with that. That's it for now!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Trial

**Fair warning, this chapter's pretty slow, but it's mostly exposition and essential to understanding the story, so if you skip it you're screwed. DON'T DO THAT.**

* * *

After what seemed like hours, Ky felt a small but powerful gust of wind rush by his ear, blowing some of his hair around. He turned, surprised to see Derek Dewmal standing in the doorway of the huge building next to him, eying him with a smirk. Ky smiled.

"I'm assuming if they sent you, I'm not being arrested?" Derek smirked back at him.

"Well, not yet at least. Definitely surprised me. Vayl's a pretty no-nonsense guy most of the time. He must like you." The cocky smirk never left his face as he gestured inside the door. "You coming?" Ky nodded, glad he finally had a reason to move again.

"Didn't realize you were a wind mage." He said to Derek.

"Yeah, me and my brother both. The only thing we we have in common besides our good looks and charm." Ky rolled his eyes, and instead turned his attention to the inside of the building. It had a much more modern design on it's interior than it's exterior, a rough blue carpet covered the entire floor. Desks topped with computers lined up against the walls, most of them still on though no one sitting behind them. Hell, the whole place seemed borderline abandoned.

"Um...correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't there supposed to be...ya know, people? What is this building used for exactly?" Derek kept walking but turned to face him, still not wiping that smirk off his face.

"We usually call this place the Capitol of the Institute. It's easily the largest building you'll find here. We use it for negotiations, to store information...and for court cases." Ky bit his lip.

"So, I'm on trial huh?" Derek shrugged.

"Kinda. Whenever we have meetings and stuff like this, everyone working here gathers in the huge room up ahead." He pointed to yet another set of closed doors not too far ahead, almost as large as the entrance doors.

"Who runs it?"

"Well, the summoner's 'council' control most of what happens here, and THEY are lead by good'ol uncle Vayl. I'd say your chances are pretty good considering your ass isn't sitting in a jail cell right now." Ky nodded, grateful for Derek's insight on what was going on. He was really wishing he had more time to study the inner workings of this place before throwing himself off a cliff.

"Are your parents summoners here, too?" Derek's smirk instantly wiped off his face, and his eyes half closed. He almost seem to shrink as he spoke;

"Don't have any." Ky was taken aback by this instantaneously, wishing he'd never asked about it.

"I-I'm sorry...I-"

"It's fine." Derek assured him, though his expression said otherwise.

"...Me neither." Derek turned to face him again.

"Huh?"

"My parents we're killed a long time ago." Ky put a fake smile on his face. "Really sucks when you live as long as I do." Derek nodded, but didn't say anything more until they reached the large double doors. He held out his hand.

"Good luck, Ky." Ky shook his hand.

"Eh, don't worry about me." was all he said back before pushing open the doors.

* * *

As soon as he walked into the room, he felt hundreds - if not thousands - of eyes fall upon him. It had to be even larger than the area he had just been in. The room was circularly shaped with multiple isles of seats running along the ground and continuing up both walls. Multiple stone pillars rested in between some of the isles and hosted seemingly higher ranking summoners on top of them. Ky spotted Vayl on the highest pillar directly in front of him against the wall.

After making his observations, Ky managed to keep himself from tensing up after getting the attention of so many people so quickly. It didn't help that a couple of guards had blocked the entrance. Then again, if everything went to shit, like he assumed it was going to, he could always just fly up a bit and teleport through the wall.

"Hello again, Ky," Began Vayl, in what sounded like an even tone. His voice echoed around the room, almost seeming to grow louder before abruptly being cutoff, like he was speaking through a faulty microphone. "I believe the time for small talk is over, so I'm just going to skip to the point. You're going to explain everything about where you came from, why you came to the Institute of War, and your relationship with Kayle and who else attacked you before you arrived here. "Then-

"Then you'll decided whether or not you're going to kill me or let me stay here. I GET IT!" Ky yelled, already fed up with Vayl's attitude. He acted as if Ky hadn't been trying to explain to him why he was here for the past half hour.

"Well, things aren't looking so good for you now, are they? I suggest you start talking before I take away your PRIVILEGE to defend yourself." Ky took a deep breath. Vayl had a point. He definitely wouldn't be convincing anyone he was worth keeping around if he blew up at every little thing. "Now then, lets start simple. What's your full name?" Ky smirked.

"You already know it." _Dipshit_, he wanted to add. "I don't have a last name anymore." Vayl raised an eyebrow.

"And Ky isn't short for anything?" Ky rolled his eyes, immediately hoping no one noticed, before crossing his arms and responding with;

"No, it isn't, now, do you want to actually ask me sh-STUFF, that actually matters?" By this point, he had moved into the center of the room, and the many summoner's expressions were more relaxed but possibly even more curious. Vayl scoffed at him.

"Very well. Seeming as you're well acquainted with Kayle-

"And the fact that I have frigging wings, yeah, I'm from the Angel World." Ky interrupted. Wow, he really needed to stop doing that. "Kayle and I used to be...acquaintances, before she attacked my village 3,000 years ago." Ky stopped to compose himself, before finally letting out what he'd been trying to tell Vayl for awhile now. "As you must know, seeing how...close you and Kayle are, she's one of the main leaders of our world, politically and militarily. You MAY also know that our government is collapsing, people are starving, and Kayle is too concerned with her sister, Morgana's, cult, which hasn't made any progress in their 'revolution,' by the way, to do anything about it. All she's accomplished in her 'quest for justice' is allowing a corrupt government to form and destroying innocent villages because she THINKS they pose a threat." He could see the surprise in most of the faces of the summoners, including some of the of the higher ranking ones. They probably didn't believe him about that last part, but he'd been watching it happen for years. "I've been organizing an underground resistance for the past 3 years, and I have ALMOST enough followers to finally fix what Kayle and Morgana are destroying. Kayle's goons discovered it just a few days ago, so I figured now was a good time to get to a...lets say, safe haven, where I can continue to grow it by gathering followers on the ground." He paused, allowing the information he'd provided to sink in.

"What exactly do you have planned for the future of your government?" asked one of the higher ranking summoners. Ky turned to them.

"I've gathered several qualified officials who agree that change has to be made. We're planning on creating a Democracy, giving more power to the people. That's what this Institute goes by, right?" he asked, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"Yes." Replied the summoner who had spoke up.

"Basically, I plan to end Morgana's cult while fixing what Kayle has broken. Those people that attacked me just outside the Institute were other angels who support Kayle, in case you were still curious."

"One more thing." Vayl said...raising his voice, for some reason. "Why are you able to control both light and dark magic?" Everyone in the room turned to Ky, considering this for the first time. "Being able to control two opposite kinds of magic is unheard of."

"Not necessarily." Ky began, generating a ball of dark magic in his right hand and a ball of light magic in his left, mostly just to look cool. "It's extremely rare, but their are legends where I'm from about angels who could use both kinds of magic. Most of them sound like fairy tales, stories of them slaying monsters, fighting against corrupt governments..." he stopped talking for a moment to point at himself, "others just causing mayhem. They actually never died out, but most of us tried to keep ourselves hidden. Apparently the legends turned more sinister as time went on, the most famous one...lets just say it wasn't pretty. We're called Archangels...my mother was the last one before me." His confident voice died of towards the end of his speech and the magic he'd been holding in his hand disappeared as he recalled his mother's death. He pushed the thought away before he let it take up all of his attention.

Vayl seemed deep in thought, considering everything he'd said so far.

"There is still one more thing that needs to be addressed..." Ky looked up at him. He was pretty sure he had covered all the bases. His reason for coming here, some of his origin story, and he gave some vague details about his organization. "I want you to apologize to Kayle." Ky blinked, not sure he heard him right.

"Pardon?"

"I want you to apologize to Kayle for attacking her. She was in quite a bit of pain after your little skirmish earlier."

"BUT SHE ATTACKED-erm, she engaged the fight first."

"But YOU were the one to egg her on." Vayl reminded him, which even Ky could sort of agree with.

"I'll apologize to her if you promise me the position of a champion in the League of Legends. That's what we we're here to decide, after all." Vayl seemed to consider this for a moment before smiling.

"Very well, Ky. I suppose we've taken in less-desirable champions than you before." he chuckled. Damn, Vayl's mood was always changing on a dime. Did he really just crack a joke in the middle of a serious court case? "Monty, bring in Kayle...that is, if she's in a good enough condition to walk."

"Angel's heal pretty fast. She should be good by now." Ky added. One of the guards that were standing by the door; Monty, he presumed; nodded and hurried out of the room to retrieve Kayle. A few minutes went by, the literally higher ranking summoners talking in whispers, likely debating whether or not they agree with Vayl's decision to allow him to join the Institution. Ky himself was borderline shocked that Vayl had agreed so quickly. Seriously, he was expecting to have to make a sudden escape after being reprimanded, but...

Ky's thoughts were interrupted as the doors opened once more. Monty returned along with a depressed looking Kayle, although it was hard to tell with her helmet covering her face.

"Ah, wonderful for you to join us again Kayle." Vayl began. Kayle immediately walked next to Ky and grabbed him forcibly by the arm.

"What the hell?!" he yelled, tensing for a fight.

"Drake, please reconsider allowing this RAT into our walls. He's a conspiring THEORIST who only thinks of himself." Ky smiled.

"You just LOVE talking about yourself, don't ya, Kayle? Besides, hasn't a rat been allowed to join the League before?" Kayle gripped his arm harder, making him grit his teeth.

"Kayle, please. Unhand the boy's arm." Ky scoffed when he heard "boy" but was grateful when Kayle finally let him go. "Now then Ky, wasn't there something you wanted to do?"

"Oh yeah, WANTED." He turned to Kayle, "My HUMBLE apologizes for you attacking me earlier by the fountain." Although he couldn't see her face, he could tell she was rolling her eyes.

"Ky, please. That did not sound genuine." Ky managed to stop himself from shooting Vayl with his dark magic and bent down on one knee. He put an over-exaggerated smile on his face.

"I'm sincerely sorry for provoking you earlier today, madam. And I swear I meant no harm in slamming your face into the ground repeatedly."

"Sir-" Kayle cut in, addressing Vayl.

"Now Kayle, don't you accept his apology?"

"...With all due respect sir, you don't need to treat us like we're four years old." Ky interrupted, getting up off his knee. "We're kinda deciding my entire future here, not who gets the last damn cookie in the jar." Vayl's no nonsense mood returned out of nowhere.

"Yes, of course. Kayle, this MAN has given me no reason not to trust him, and his power and strength are undeniable. And although it contradicts with yours, I see his cause worth supporting. Besides, this isn't the first time we've allowed YOUR enemies in the Institute." Vayl added, obviously referring to Morgana. That made Ky finally realize why Vayl had been so optimistic about allowing him to join the Institute. Since it was designed to keep peace across...and above...Valoran, Vayl probably considered him to be simply resorting to violence to grow his resistance instead of going about it politically, capturing cities and people rather than gaining their trust. Realistically, he'd nothing to worry about the whole time. Vayl had only one choice since the second he found out Ky was another powerful enemy of Kayle.

"Does that mean I'm finally in?" the Archangel ventured. Vayl nodded, much to the confusion of the crowd. Some immediately began protesting Vayl's decision. He quickly silenced them by the wave of his hand.

"People please, I've made up my mind, and the summoner's council has come to a unanimous decision." The other higher ranking summoners nodded, also realizing why not allowing Ky into the League was a bad idea. Vayl turned back to Ky. "You now have the freedom to wander the Institute's grounds freely. After you're well acquainted with everything, we'll send a summoner to show you the inner workings of the Institute and your daily routines. You should see your first Summoner's Rift match in the next couple of weeks, after we decide what abilities you'll be able to use on the Fields of Justice." Ky bowed.

"Thank you, head summoner. I'll see myself out." He turned, shot a triumphant look at Kayle, and preceded back out the way he came in. Before he walked out the door, he caught sight of Derek in the crowd giving him a thumbs-up. Ky nodded back before exiting the room, hearing a distressed Kayle yelling, "Drake, PLEASE RECONSIDER!"

Ky snickered as the doors shut behind him. _Oh Kayle, what do you have to worry about? After all...I'm no threat to you, remember?_

* * *

As Ky exited the building after what felt like hours, but realistically only took about half an hour, he was surprised to find Ahri sitting on the short walls lining the stairway. She had the same red and white kimono she had on earlier, only it was much dirtier than before. Her hair was mangled and covered in grease, hanging in front her face and partially hiding her golden eyes. Even so, she didn't look too bad. She noticed Ky and waved him over, her face immediately lighting up from it's bored look.

"Hey, Ky! I came over here when I heard you IMMEDIATELY got into a fight...I figured they'd take you here-" She cut herself off, noticing his wings for the first time. She didn't press on as Ky walked closer to her. The awkward silence was finally ended as Ahri inquired, "...Are you an angel?" Ky rolled his eyes.

"No, I'm just 23,654 years old and have massive wings growing out of my back." She shook her head.

"Sorry, it was just...kinda surprising. I've never seen a male angel before."

"Well, I've never seen a half human, half fox girl before."

"That doesn't count! You literally read all about me and the other champions before you came here!" Ky held up his hands defensively.

"Why are we still arguing about this?"

"I have NO idea." She stood up from her perch on the wall, jumping down the short distance and stretching her limbs as she landed. "You know, you never DID tell me why you came here in the first place."

"Look, I'd love to stay and tell you, but I've been locked up in a courtroom for the last half hour and I was just given the privilege to walk around." He smiled at her. "I'm gonna be a champion here." He saw her fox-like ears perk up.

"Really? That's great!" She quickly cleared her throat, probably embarrassed at her outburst. She spoke in a much quieter voice. "Is anyone showing you around."

"Well, Vayl said he would send someone to guide me through this place later...but no one at the moment." Ahri reached out and forcibly grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her.

"Why wait? I could do the honors right now!"

"No!" Ky yelled, clearing his throat. "I mean, I wouldn't want to trouble you..."

"It's no big deal. Besides, I was heading back to the champion's quarters to shower anyways, and that's across the whole courtyard from here." She pulled him even closer and gave him the overused exaggerated puppy dog eyes. He had to admit, it was definitively made more effective by her fox-like appearance.

"Fine..." Her pleading face immediately switched to joy as she tugged hard on his arm, immediately launching them into a sprint.

"Yay!" the Kitsune beamed. "And while we're on our way, you can tell me more about yourself!" Ky groaned, complaining to himself about not being able to break free of her grip, as she half- dragged him away from the capitol.

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**So, I don't usually like to address readers directly, but it would be nice to get a review from someone other than one of my friends. I'd appreciate it if someone left one.  
**


	6. Chapter 6: The Institute of War

Ky unwillingly told Ahri almost everything he'd just explained to Vayl and practically all the rest of the summoners at the Institute. She said almost nothing to him as she half dragged him down the path it felt like he'd just come from. He allowed her to lead him as far as back to the fountain before slamming his feet on the stone and using his wings to stop her endless sprint. He threw his arms around her waist at the last second to keep her from throwing herself into the shallow waters.

"Geez Ahri, I thought you wanted to show me around, not run us into a wall!" She broke free of his grasp, a slightly embarrassed look on her face.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I kinda get...lost in my own thoughts sometimes." She sat down on he edge of the fountain, crossing her legs and tilting her head down to attempt to hide the blush spreading across her face. She cleared her throat. "So, you're staging an uprising in the angel world?" She continued before he could answer. "Pretty noble of you."

"Thanks...anyways, an explanation of where everything is would be nice." She sighed.

"Right to the point, then? The institute is split up into 5 different sections." She gestured to the area around them. "We're in the center right now, which is where all the roads meet. Most people treat it like a small park." Ky took a look around, noticing the multiple trees, flowers, and other flora around them for the first time, growing right up to the side of he road.

"I can see why." he remarked. Ahri giggled slightly.

"I spend a lot of my free time here helping Zyra tend to the gardens." She turned to him. "You don't care, do you?" He smirked at her.

"Not particularly."

She sighed again before continuing. "Anyways, we just came from the southwest, 'capitol' area, which is where all the governing and stuff happens."

"And stuff?"

"Ugh, look, I have no idea what they do there, I've been there like, ONCE."

"Okay, I'm sorry. Geez." He had to remember how easy it was to piss her off. "Go on?"

"Right next to it in the northwest is where a lot of the shopping and housing districts are. Most of this place's profits come from there."

"That where champions and summoners live too?" She shook her head, then immediately brushed her hair back out of her eyes.

"Since there are a shit-ton of us, the champions and summoners have their own living quarters. Ours is in the northeast, and theirs are in the southeast. Not gonna lie, that was probably a good move on their part. I mean, considering half the summoners are mental and half the champions are...also mental." Ky let out a short laugh before taking a seat beside her on the fountain. Activity in the area appeared to have returned to normal after his battle with Kayle, although some passersby shot him strange glances. Word must've spread fast about him. He turned back to Ahri, who now sat in silence, staring off into nothing.

"Hey, I was just kidding when I said I didn't care about you tending to the gardens." She turned around to look at him and smiled.

"I know."

"No you didn't." She playfully shoved him and stood up from the fountain.

"What's up with this thing?" she asked.

Ky blinked. "What thing?" Ahri laughed.

"This stupid thing hanging in front of your face?" she replied, flicking the long strand of black hair he kept in front of his face, running down the side of his nose and all the way to his upper lip.

"What? I think it looks cool!" he protested. Ahri laughed in his face again.

"No...no it doesn't." She was laughing really hard at this point, bending over slightly and holding her stomach. Ky tried to hide his embarrassment.

"Wow, does it really look that dumb?" he asked honestly. Ahri finally managed to stop laughing, though it sounded like she was still trying not to.

"No, I'm just teasing, calm down." Whether or not he believed her, he decided to just let it slide. "Anyways, you ready to head to the champion quarters? It's getting pretty late." She gestured up to the orange sun against a red sky, no clouds getting in the way of the view of the horizon. "I still need to shower, and it's been a long-ass day."

"No kidding," Ky scoffed, already grabbing her hand and taking off down the stone path.

"Ky?" He turned his head to look at her.

"Yeah?

"Champion quarters are that-a-way," she corrected, pointing down the path right next to them.

"I knew that," he added, quickly changing there direction as Ahri laughed next to his ear.

* * *

As they neared their destination, Ky noticed the grass and trees beginning to thin and a few large buildings popping up next to them.

"You're gonna want to remember these," Ahri cut in. Ky stopped running abruptly as Ahri pushed his white wing out of her face. "Watch where you're swinging those!"

"Hey, it wouldn't be much better if you were in front of me. Those tails are frigging huge!" She rolled her eyes and then gestured to one of two simple and almost identical buildings sitting across from each other branching off of the path they were running on. Both were simple cube like shapes with white walls and a white roof, much more modern-looking than the building his trial had been held in.

"That one over there is the cafeteria. They serve free meals to champions, but only breakfast and dinner. And I'm PRETTY sure we missed dinner."

"Aw, you missed dinner just so you could come say hi to me?" he jested. A deep blush immediately spread over her face.

"Maybe," she responded. Ky's eyes widened slightly.

"Huh. I expected you to deny it a little," he admitted. She giggled before gesturing to the identical building next to them.

"This one is used as a kind of gym for the champions. We're required to work out here in the morning at least 3 days a week." When he didn't respond for a few seconds, Ahri turned back to look at his equally shocked and pissed-off face.

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" he yelled. Ahri stepped back in surprise.

"I mean, they need SOME way to make sure their champions stay fit. They can't just let them go tripping over their own feet on the rift."

"Yeah, but...that sounds like it's gonna interfere with my plans..."

"The hell are you doing at 8:00am three days a week?" She asked with a smile. He folded his arms.

"Well, I'm not sure yet. Once I gather more followers, I'm gonna be checking back up there a lot. Preferably early, when I'm harder to spot."

"Dude, It's 3 days a week. Just check once every other day." Ky sighed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I guess..." he sighed. Ahri smiled to reassure him, then began leading him down the path once more.

"Oh yeah, there's one more building a ways behind the gym called the arena. We have stuff like duals and competitions there." Ky abruptly stopped running.

"Wait...I'm pretty sure I heard Kayle mention some kind of tournament before we started trying to murder each other." He turned to Ahri. "You know anything about that?" She nodded.

"Oh, yeah. We passed by a few posters of it on our way over here actually. It's just a simple fighting tournament between the champions taking place in the arena to celebrate the Institute of War's 10th anniversary. And they're making a HUGE deal out of it. According to some rumors floating around, half the population of Runeterra is showing up." Ky noticed her voice was getting progressively more and more excited. "And for the FIRST time since I got here, they're not going to use their magic to hold our power back like they do on the rift!" Ky had heard that most of the champions' powers were reduced or their bodies were made stronger while they were fighting on Summoner's Rift, which made sense. It would be pretty one-sided if one swing from a sword could kill a mage or one spell could annihilate an entire team.

"Big deal for you, huh?" He interrupted. She had begun to stare off into the sky again, and he brought her out of her trance.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. You just seem excited that their not gonna be restricting your powers." She turned away from him.

"Yeah, well...it's nothing. Look, you should consider signing up for it. I think it takes place 2 weeks from today."

"Is there like...a reward for the winner, or are we just expected to fight for their amusement?" _Like you always do, _he thought to himself.

"You know what, I have no idea. But I bet you could get a lot more people to join your cause if you win."

"What makes you say that?" She rolled her eyes at him.

"Um, it would kinda be a big deal if the brand-new champion came in and immediately wrecked everyone in 1-on-1 combat. You'd get really popular really fast. I just hope they let you join it after being here for 3 seconds."

"Definitely would suck if they didn't." Ky started moving down the path once more, too lost in his own thoughts to address Ahri.

* * *

They eventually arrived in a large circular clearing. The path curved in 2 different directions and ran all the way around the area. All the rest of the visible ground consisted of the same grass and trees they'd been seeing the whole time. The huge fire pit in the middle reminded Ky of a campsite, although what he assumed were the living arrangements were far better than tents or cabins. Several large structures stood around the clearing, each one it's own design and color palette representing the city or area the champions are from. Demacia's tall golden and blue building with statues in front reflecting what little light was left in the day. Noxus's red and black walls topped with spikes for no other reason than to look threatening. Even Piltover's overuse of chrome and seemingly more advanced security. Hell, they had their own laser gate in front that needed it's own pass-code to open. A few champions could be seen outside of their respective living quarters, although none had seemed to notice him and Ahri yet. Ky whistled, clearly impressed.

"Not to shabby." Ahri shrugged.

"It's alright, I guess. I usually prefer to sleep outside myself." She took a couple steps forward and pointed around the fire pit. "I'm pretty sure the angel dorm is on the opposite side of here." Ky stepped around her to get a better view and scoffed.

"Figures it'd be right next to the Void dorm." he muttered. Sure enough, sitting right beside his future living quarters was possibly the strangest...thing...that Ky had ever seen. It had a similar design to the other dorms, though the whole thing was wrapped in layers of what could only be described as giant purple tentacles topped with slimy green ooze. Cracks in the ground around the structure indicated that more floors could be found below the surface. The occasional distorted screams of the creatures could be heard resonating from inside. "Charming."

"Yeah, they really should've moved that one farther away from the others. On the bright sided, the support and healers' dorm is right next to yours on the other side!" She cheerfully added. Ky rolled his eyes.

"Great, that way when I go insane from the Void creatures' screams keeping me up all night, I can see the healers for therapy."

"Oh, they won't drive you insane," Ahri giggled. Her expression suddenly turned serious. "You get used to it."

"Hey, Ahri!" called a woman's voice. They both turned towards the voice, which happened to be coming from the porch of the Demacian dorm. A young lady sat upright on a bench, looking up from a huge book with a green cover and gold lettering on the front. She set it down on the side of the bench and sprang up to run over to Ky and Ahri, her long blonde hair flowing behind her.

"Oh, hey Lux!" Ahri yelled back. Ky had already recognized the girl as Luxanna Crownguard, another of the 100+ champions he had read about. She used light magic similar to Kayle's, so he hoped the two weren't close. He was probably already on the bad side of thousands of angels and a few summoners and champions; no need to add one more person to his list of enemies.

Lux wore a simple white T-shirt accompanied by skinny jeans and a gold headband keeping the hair out of her eyes. The girls attempted a hug, Lux coming up 1 or 2 inches short of Ahri before wrinkling her nose and pulling away abruptly.

"Ugh, that was a bad idea. You smell disgusting!"

"What do you want me to do? I STILL haven't gotten a chance to shower!" Ahri responded, rolling her eyes.

"Oh calm down, it was a joke. How did your Summoner's Rift match go?"

Ahri smiled triumphantly. "I went 9/2/6 and we won the game after 40 minutes. I kinda carried," she bragged, taking an over exaggerated bow.

Lux laughed quietly. "Not bad, Foxy." She turned her attention to Ky for the first time. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm Ky," he interrupted before Ahri could answer for him. Lux snapped her fingers.

"You're that angel who beat the shit out of Kayle earlier, right?" she asked. Ky gritted his teeth, ready to be assaulted with death threats.

"Archangel," he corrected. "And yeah, I am." Much to his surprise, Lux help up her hand as if to high five him.

"Nice!" she exclaimed. Ky sat confused for a good 2 seconds before returning her high five.

"Uh...thanks." He shook his head as if to clear it. "Sorry, I just thought that you and Kayle would be close since your both, ya know, light mages."

Lux shook her head before stating matter-of-factly, "Nah, Kayle's a bitch." Ahri nodded as if to agree with her.

Ky smiled. "Well then, looks like I've found my two new best friends," he joked. All 3 of them laughed for a few seconds, catching the attention of a few other champions, although no one else came over to them.

"Alright, it's getting late, and I need to shower. Ky, are you good? To get settled in, I mean," Ahri asked. Ky crossed his arms behind his head.

"I mean, I don't have a room or a key, I brought virtually nothing with me, and I have to sleep in the same building as Kayle and Morgana."

"You can use my room tonight, if you want," Ahri offered. "I'm fine with sleeping outside."

"I don't think that will be necessary," said a nearby voice. The three turned to see Derek Dewmal, standing smugly as usual a few feet away. He walked up to Ky and handed him a key with a number printed on the back. "There's 17 rooms in the angel dorm, and they're all already furbished. You're in room 9. Halfway between Morgana and Kayle," he added with a wink. "Kayle's room 1 and Morgana's room 17, just so you can stay as far away from them as possible." Ky blinked.

"Wow...thanks. What happened to your brother...Tyler, right?" Derek shrugged.

"No idea. He was with me during your court case, but apparently the Institute's trying to set me up as your messenger, or some bullshit like that." His smirk intensified. "Not happy to see me?"

"No!" Ky quickly answered. "Just curious." Derek shrugged and turned to walk off.

"If you need anything else, feel free to call for me. Apparently." He suddenly sprinted off at ridiculous speeds, leaving behind a gust a wind and churning up some grass.

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting he's a wind mage," Ky muttered. The last light of the day had since left, and most of the champions in the clearing had returned to their dorms for the night. "Well ladies, I'll see you tomorrow then."

Lux nodded, turning away from him and Ahri and reopening her book. "Till tomorrow!" she called back before turning her full attention to her book. They pretended not to notice her walking smack into the door to the Demacian dorm, and waited until she was inside to laugh.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow too, Ky." She grabbed his arm. "I can't wait to introduce you to some more of my friends here!" Ky smiled at her.

"Sounds fun Ahri." They both turned to walk away, but Ky spun around at the last second. "Oh, hey!" Ahri turned to look back at him, already at the steps of the Ionian dorm. "I'm...sorry for how I acted towards you this morning. When we first met. I should I have just told you what was going on upfront instead of acting so suspicious." He looked down at his feet before continuing in a quieter voice. "And I'm sorry I almost got you killed in the plains. You know, by those angels that attacked us." He recalled him and Ahri sprinting towards the Institute and him almost leaving her to die as she was knocked to the ground. He had barely been fast enough to block the stream of light magic projectiles that followed, sure to have killed her.

To his surprise, she smiled. All she said was, "No worries...it was worth it to meet you," before she disappeared inside her dorm. Ky stood completely still for a moment before walking over to the angel dorm. The building's walls were split into two colors cutting right through the middle, one side completely white, one side completely black, much like his own clothing. It was built vertically so that all 17 rooms were on their own floors, probably referencing how angels live above Runeterra. As he walked up the stone steps and through the marble doors, he marveled at how well they nailed he angelic design. The overuse of marble, columns, and gold really nailed it.

He came up to the elevator in the center of the first floor and rode it up to floor 9. He quickly unlocked his door and hurried inside. It'd been a long day, and he suddenly realized how tired he really was. He hit the light switch to his left and took a brief look around the room. Wardrobe and mirror on the right, king sized bed on the right, and two doors on the other side of the room. He decided to explore the room better tomorrow. He locked the door behind him and turned the light back off before slipping off his shoes. He awkwardly pulled off his robe over his wings and threw himself onto the bed, wrapping his wings around him instead of the blanket for warmth. He fell asleep instantly.

* * *

**Hey guys, just wanted to apologize for having 2 chapters in a row with little to no action. I just wanted to get a few things cleared up for the image that I had in mind for the Institute of War. Next chapter should have one or two combat scenes. Till next time!**


	7. Chapter 7: Dueling Grounds

**...Remember to listen to some Bayonetta music during the fight scene ;).**

* * *

...

..._Wake up..._

_..._

_...get up moron..._

"What the hell?" Ky asked himself as he groggily sat up in his bed. Had that been the same voice he'd heard after he'd fallen from the angel world? Where did he know it from? He shook his head. Whatever that voice was, it was really freaking rude. It better not be there every damn time he tried to sleep. Even the void creatures had shut up enough to let him rest.

He turned to look at the digital clock sitting on his nightstand. _6:30._ He should definitely make a habit of getting up this early if he was going to keep up with his business back in the angel world. He stood up, grabbing his robe off the floor and moving towards one of the two doors close to his bed. The first one he opened was a mostly empty closet, aside from a few coat hangers that were useless for him and a hamper with a note on it. It read;

**Directions: 1.) Put dirty clothes in hamper.**

**2.) Wait 3-5 minutes.**

**3.) Enjoy fresh, clean clothes!**

Ky raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's convenient." He dropped his robe in the hamper before heading out of the closet and into the second door, the bathroom. A large tub sat in the middle of the tiled floor with a shower head hanging over it and both a sink and toilet in their respective corners of the room. He pulled off his boxers and quickly showered, grabbing a towel from a nearby rack. He hurried back out to the closet to grab his robe out of the hamper, which, sure enough, was completely clean. Even the tears that had formed from his fight with the wolves and with Kayle seemed to have been repaired. He threw it on and hurried out the door, wanting to leave early to avoid running into Kayle or Morgana. He rode the elevator down and walked outside. Since it was summer, the sun was already above the horizon, and the pinkish glow of the sky had almost completely faded. He noticed yet another note tapped to the back of the door, this one addressed to him from Ahri.

_ "Hey Ky, meet me at the cafeteria. Breakfast is served from 6:30 to 7:30, so don't sleep too late!"  
-Ahri  
_

Ky threw the note over his shoulder and took to the skies, flying towards the cafeteria. It had been about 6:45 when he left his room, so there was really no rush, but he still wanted to get there as quickly as possible. He landed in front of it after only flying for about a minute and took a brief look through the glass doors. Circular wooden tables were lined in rows across the glossy tiled floor. Multiple champions sat at almost every table, and the only other living things he could see were a few guards and the chefs behind a counter.

Upon entering, Ky felt every eye in the room gradually begin to turn to him. The murmurs and conversations that had been going on abruptly stopped. Ky stopped in the doorway, unsure of what to do.

The awkward silence was broken by an over enthusiastic voice. "Hi, Ky!" He looked towards the other end of the cafeteria to see Ahri beckoning for him to come over. He shrugged and began slowly making his way towards her table. He recognized almost everyone he passed, although some of their names escaped him. _Still no sign of Kayle or Morgana_, he thought. Conversations began to start up again as he neared the table, although he was pretty sure he heard his name a few times. He pulled up a chair next to Ahri, who was stuffing her face with a cheesburger, with Lux sitting on the other side of her. She managed to stop tearing at the patty with her canine like teeth long enough to address him.

"Sleep well?" she asked. He nodded back.

"Better than I thought I would."

"This the guy you ladies were talking about?" asked a male voice. Ky hadn't even noticed the boy sitting across from them until now.

Lux nodded in response. "Yeah Ez, this is Ky." 'Ez' held out his gauntlet covered hand across the table.

"I'm Ezreal," he said, although his voice was muffled through the food still in his mouth. Ezreal's golden blonde hair and blue eyes matched Lux's, although if he remembered correctly, they weren't related. He couldn't have been older than 22, which he assumed was about how old Lux and Ahri were too.

Ky returned the handshake. "Nice to meet you, Prodigal Explorer."

Ezreal pulled his hand back his hand to wipe his face. "Oh yeah, Ahri mentioned that you're some kind or know-it-all when it comes to champion lore. You're not gonna turn into some creepy stalker, are you?"

Ky rolled his eyes. "No, just a rapist." Ahri and Lux both laughed, although it took Ez a second to get the joke.

"Not funny, man."

"Completely funny," Ahri countered.

"Anyways," Ky cut in. He pointed behind him. "Food's up there?"

"Yeah, you just grab a tray and take whatever is on the counter. Food's okay," Ahri said with a shrug.

"Is that why you're devouring it?" he asked.

"Shut up and get your food," she shot back with a smile. Ky smirked at her before getting up and walking over to the counter, grabbing a plastic tray, a BLT, and a water bottle.

"Did anyone else notice none of us took any food you're actually supposed to eat around breakfast?" he called back to them on his way over to the table. He didn't even get a chance to sit back down when he heard Lux call out in disgust.

"Ky, can you not molt all over my soup?" she yelled, pulling out a large black feather dripping with broth. Ky immediately turned to the entrance closet to them.

"Wasn't me," he said in a low, even tone, placing his tray on the table. The rest of them turned to see what he was looking at. A few black feathers floated in the air as a woman walked straight towards Ky. "Morgana."

"Ugh," was all she said. Morgana's body had long been tainted by her overuse of dark magic, and almost every part of her appearance was a midnight purple or a black color. Her skin was a lighter purple in contrast to her black hair and dark purple dress, which reached all the way to her feet. Her wings were also black, but unlike Ky's, they were damaged badly enough that she could no longer use them to fly. Perhaps the most unsettling part of her look were her pure white eyes, standing out against her otherwise dark-colored skin and wardrobe.

"Nice to see you too, Morg." Ky responded, the same disgusted tone.

"I thought you burned with the rest of your family, archangel." Ky bit his lip, fighting down an army of insults to throw at her. He rested his hand on the side of the table.

"Better watch your mouth, Morg. You'll wanna be on my good side when I take over your entire cult."

"Please. You defeating me has about the same chance as a fly defeating a frog," she scoffed. "Especially since the Institute won't allow you to attack me OR my operation."

Ky brushed his hair out of his eyes. "I have my methods."

Morgana laughed bitterly. "Right, just like you 'had your methods' when you tried to save your family?"

That was the last straw for him. "SHUT UP! You're the reason they're dead, you bitch!" He raised his hand, about to fire a burst of light magic, when a hand rested on his shoulder. He turned around to see Ahri staring at him with a worried expression.

"Ky, please calm down. If you're caught attacking another champion, they're not going to let you stay here." Something about her words immediately calmed him down. And it wasn't the words themselves; it was definitely some kind of magic. She WAS a pretty well known seductress. He looked down at his hand gripping the table, and noticed a carved out area in the shape of his fingers.

Morgana laughed. "STILL no control of your powers, even after all these years? Pathetic." She walked past their table. "If you don't mind, I have business that needs to be taken care of." As she left, Ky sat back down and began eating his sandwich in silence. Ahri thought she should offer him some kind of comforting words, but none came to mind.

_I'm sorry your parents are dead? _she thought. She eventually settled on; "Morgana's an asshole." Ky nodded, but didn't say anything back.

The four of them ate in silence until an announcement could be heard over what Ky assumed was an intercom system. _"Attention all champions, please report to the Arena immediately after breakfast. Thank you." _The voice sounded very similar to Vayl's.

Ky abruptly stood up. "Well I guess we should head over there." He began walking away without waiting for a response.

"Hey Ky, wait up!" Ahri scrambled out of her seat to catch up with him with Lux and Ezreal close behind.

* * *

The Arena was honestly not at all what Ky was expecting. It was his first time actually seeing the building, which was designed more like an old-fashioned Colosseum. It's stone walls appeared ancient, built entirely out of moss-covered stone. The entrance had an equally old-looking staircase leading up to 3 oval shaped entryways. The inside was one large square shaped platform with the logo for the League of Legends branded in the middle with seemingly endless seats for audiences surrounding it, raised up a couple meters above the center platform. Ahri came running in after Ky, although there was no sign of any other champions yet.

"Geez, Ky. I get that you're upset, but there's no need to be running off like that." She tried to place a hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away from her.

"I'm fine. And there's no need to treat me like some scared little kid. I've just...been through a lot." Ahri seemed upset that he had pulled away from her. She turned and jumped up to the audience stands with a single leap.

"Fine, I'll just leave you alone then." She climbed up to the top of the arena and sat down, pretending he wasn't there. Ky rolled his eyes as the rest of the champions began pouring in, still most of them just shooting him glances and not approaching him. Again, he saw no sign of Kayle. Maybe she was too scared to show his face around him. That thought cheered Ky up a bit.

Finally, Vayl arrived with Derek and Tyler as well as a group of summoners with clipboards and pens right behind him. Vayl stopped and turned to face the champions on the center platform as the rest of the summoners filed out into the stands.

"Good morning everyone," Vayl began. "I'm going to try to keep this brief. As you know, we run this procedure every time a new champion joins our dysfunctional family here at the Institute of War." He gestured to Ky. "Mind stepping up here, Ky?" Ky shrugged, silently flying up to the platform, ignoring the conveniently placed stairs. "All we're doing is observing you in combat to get a better idea of what abilities you will be able to use on Summoner's Rift."

Ky smirked, although the top of his robe was blocking his mouth. "Because you didn't see enough of that yesterday?"

"Well this time, we have clipboards," Vayl countered, unamused. "You may pick any champion to duel-"

"Morgana!" he interrupted.

Vayl laughed. "Sorry, she's not available at the moment."

"Figures," Ky sighed. "I really don't give a shit then. Spin a wheel for all I care." As if on cue, Derek pulled out a cellphone and spun a virtual wheel with all of the champion names on them. Ky blinked. "The hell do you have that for?"

Derek smiled at him. "For this EXACT situation." Ky rolled his eyes, waiting for the wheel to stop spinning. It felt like hours before it finally stopped and Derek announced who his was fighting. "Cho'Gath." Ky turned as a large creature began lumbering towards the platform, most of the other champions scrambling out of its way.

Ky recognized the beast as one of the void creatures, The Terror of the Void, Cho'Gath. Not much was known about the Void, although most theorized that it was some kind of alternate dimension. Creatures sometimes passed through to their world, but no one was sure exactly why. Either way, whatever was in front of him was certainly...otherworldly. Cho'Gath often grew the more he ate, and having just come from lunch, he must've been at least twice Ky's height. His red and black body was covered in scales, and two spines grew from his back, even longer than his claw-tipped arms.

Cho'Gath took his place at the other end of the arena. He focused his glowing green eyes on Ky and roared at him. "Ah, it's been far too long since I've tasted angel meat."

"Um, that was only like, two days ago," Ahri yelled down, still sitting at the top of the arena. Cho'Gath either didn't hear her or didn't care, his giant mouth - filled with razor sharp teeth - watering.

Ky yawned. "I guess I could TRY to have fun with his," he said, stepping further into the battle arena. He drew his swords. "Just try not to die too fast, kay big guy?" He let loose the extent of his magic as it began to swirl around him and his eyes began to glow.

A large magical barrier formed around him as Vayl stepped off the platform. "This will keep anything physical or magical from passing through it," he explained, seeing Ky's confused expression.

"Cage match, eh? Alright Cho', do your worst!" There was nothing to signal the start of the battle as Cho'Gath stomped the ground, causing spikes to rupture beneath Ky. He jumped in an attempt to dodge them, one of them impaled the bottom of his left foot. He held back his cry of pain, but was immediately blown backwards into the the barrier by the force of Cho's screech. He managed to keep the back of his head from hitting the wall, and he tried to slip into it as a shadow. Surprisingly, he was able to, and he saw Cho'Gath's surprised expression as Ky vanished. Cho' yelled angrily and charged at the wall, giving Ky an opportunity to strike.

He moved upwards along the wall until he was directly above Cho'Gath, and turned back into his physical form. He dropped towards the beast while spinning his swords in front of him like a drill, light and dark magic swirling in front of him like a shield. He cut into its huge hunchback, drawing green blood, and attempted to cut off its head. Cho' was slightly too quick for him, grabbing his leg with a claw hand and throwing him to the ground. Ky recovered just in time as Cho' attempted to stomp on him, flipping backwards off the ground and firing light and dark bolts at it's body. Surprisingly, they seemed to make the creature flinch, so he continued rapid-fire at him. Eventually, Cho' regained his balance and roared so loudly Ky's magic was reflected back at him, slamming him in the face.

Dazed, Ky was an easy target for another one of Cho'Gath's ruptures and was knocked into the air by the spikes, which tore at his skin through his robe. Cho' grabbed him with both claws and lifted him up so their eyes met. He roared in his face and moved forward as if to...eat him!? Ky managed to teleport out of Cho's grasp at the last second, blinding the monster with the flash of light it left behind.

"Where are you!?" the creature yelled out.

Ky fully ignored him, running to the outskirts of the arena to yell to Vayl. "WE'RE ALLOWED TO KILL EACH OTHER?!"

Vayl nodded. "The same magic that applies to the rift are applied here. You will be revived if you perish in battle."

Ky rolled his eyes before turning back to the monster. "Gee, thanks for letting me know in advanced," he called back to Vayl. "This'll be a lot easier now!" Cho' had finally stopped blundering around like a fish out of water and turned back to Ky, roaring.

Ky lifted himself off the ground, realizing that Cho' wouldn't be able to rupture him in the air. He did have to dodge some spikes that Cho'Gath threw at him, although he was incredibly inaccurate. Ky then swooped down, slashing the monster's right leg, bringing it to its knees. He landed after dodging a swipe from Cho's claw and cut its whole arm clean off. Cho'Gath screamed as green blood gushed from the spot where his arm used to be, washing over them both. Ky jumped away and, after charging his magic for a second, fired a continuous beam of light magic, scalding the creature's flesh.

As Cho'Gath spun around to swing his spine-covered tail at him, Ky decided it was about time to end the battle. Ky caught his tail in mid swing, ignoring the pain from the spines digging into his palms and fingers. Using all his strength Ky lifted the huge creature over his head, and with a final grunt, slammed him back towards the ground. Cho' began to scream in agony, and Ky's hands were now dripping with his own blood, but he flipped Cho' over head head again, causes the ground to crack with the force of the beast hitting the ground. With one last, final tug, he ripped its tail clean off. The monster's blood had spread all over the arena now, and stained Ky's robe and swords.

"Oh, come on now, Cho'Gath," Ky began, loud enough for everyone to hear. He held up the creature's 6 foot tail above his head with only 1 arm. "I EXPLICITLY told you not to die too fast." He brought his arm backwards, as if to throw the tail. "The..." he began. "END!" He launched Cho'Gath's tail like a javelin, impaling the beast's entire body and sending it sailing into straight through him and lodged it in the magic barrier. Cho'Gath's screams of agony were abruptly cut off, and an eerie silence now hung over the arena. Ky noticed his blood dripping from his hands for the first time, and saw how much of Cho'Gath's blood had filled the arena. The barrier dissipated, and Ky turned around to see most of the champions staring at him like he was some kind of monster. He smiled. "What's the matter? Never seen an archangel before?"

* * *

Ky's wounds were healed soon after, and Cho'Gath was revived with his body fully intact. Vayl had him fight a few more battles for the summoner's to assess him, although none were as interesting or as fun. He found it strange they had him fight Ashe, the Frost Archer, at one point, who simply died as soon as he teleported behind her and stabbed her with his swords. He assumed if wouldn't be that easy once he finally got to fight on the Rift. By the time he'd finished the last of his battles, it was already 2:00.

He and Ahri were the last to leave the arena, although she seemed to be much more distant than before. "Something wrong, Ahri? I'm sorry about my attitude before, if that's what you're pissed about."

She shook her head. "It's not that. It's just...seeing you on the battleground...you're just really intense, okay? You didn't even seem that crazy when you were fighting WILD wolves."

He shrugged. "What can I say? I love to fight, especially when the person I'm fighting is competent enough to actually hit me." They went silent for a few minutes, walking nowhere in particular.

"Hey, do you want to see if I can get Lux and Ezreal to meet us for dinner later?" Her stomach grumbled. "...Or, a late lunch?"

He smiled back at her. "Sure, I'm starving." His eyes fell on a poster hung against the wall of the gym. "One sec." As he suspected, the poster was actually a sign-up sheet for the champions competing in the tournament Ky had been hearing about. He thought it was cool that they weren't forced to fight in it, although most of them had signed up anyways. He listed his name using a pen hanging from the wall. If his battles today reflected anything, this tournament would be a cakewalk for him to win.


	8. Chapter 8: Back to the Sky

_"Mommy...what's wrong with me?" he asked in a shaky voice. Moonlight flooded in through the window, casting an eerie glow in the mostly wooden room. A woman stood over him, and although he couldn't see her face, he could tell she was looking at him with sad eyes. _

_"It's nothing wrong with you honey...I have the same powers." She created a small ball of dark magic in her right hand and one of light magic in her left hand to demonstrate. The boy was shirtless, revealing his wings which were just starting to grow. To his initial horror, his right wing was covered in black feathers, unlike any other angel he'd seen. He held a wooden chair off the ground using a tendril made of a strange black energy. "It's called dark magic. And there's nothing to be afraid of." She bent down so they were face to face, so that he could finally make out her pale face and the long blonde hair that framed it. He stared into her cool, gray eyes, the same color as his. He found comfort in the colors that swirled inside of them. He dropped the chair, accidentally causing one of the wooden legs to break and splinter across the floor. "Listen to me, Ky." He had bent down, beginning to pick up the splinters of wood off the floor. "Ky!" His attention snapped back to her, his right wing twitching nervously. "You must NEVER use or practice this magic outside of our household, understand?!" He flinched, not used to his mom acting so strange. She was usually so easy going. "And don't show any of your friends either."  
_

_"But...why?" he asked in a quiet voice.  
_

_She sighed. "There are a lot of people...afraid, of dark magic. They believe it corrupts the light, and is a danger to all." She took his tiny hands in hers, smiling at him. "But I know that these powers can be used for good." She placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Now go back to bed, Ky." _

_"Who is afraid of it?" he asked.  
_

_She shook her head. "I'll explain more when you're older." _

_"Mommy..." he yawned. She scooped him up in her arms, carrying him back up the stairs and placing him back in his bed. For hours, he lay awake, wondering what she had meant. Finally, he felt sleeps' embrace wash over him, like a..._

* * *

"KY!" He was leaning his elbow across the table, staring at nothing in particular.

"Hm?" He looked around, remembering that Ahri had decided that he, Ezreal, and Lux would all go out to lunch together after his duels. They sat inside a restaurant called "Zhonya's Pizzeria," in the shopping district of the Institute of War.

"I asked you how the pizza was?" Ahri questioned from across the table.

He sat up, his right wing twitching nervously. "Oh, yeah! It's great." He leaned forward, grabbing his first slice of the pepperoni pizza in front of him.

"We come here all the time." Lux added, sitting next to Ahri. She frowned. "Are you alright, Ky? You seem a little distracted."

He shook his head. "I'm fine." He took his first actual bite of the pizza, surprised by how good it really was, even if it burned his tongue a little. No wonder they came here all the time.

"You kicked some serious ass at your duels today, man." Ezreal said, playfully punching him in the shoulder.

Ky shrugged. "It's not like any of them were a real challenge."

Ahri laughed. "Well aren't you humble. You had a little trouble with Cho'Gath, you know."

He rolled his eyes. "You act as if I was trying."

"Wow, you're trying way too hard to make yourself look cool." She countered. "It's not going to work on us."

"You act as if I'm trying," he said with a smirk. She sighed while Ezreal and Lux had a short laugh. He tuned them out for a moment to enjoy what felt like his first decent meal in forever. The meals served in the cafeteria, as Ahri had put it, were okay at best. Ezreal and Lux did force him to explain why he'd come to the Institute, which he was already sick of, but other than that he didn't say much. He began to drift off again...

"KY!" his head jerked up slightly. "Geez dude, have you always been this good at giving zero shits?" Ezreal complained, half yelling right in Ky's ear.

"Not...usually." He shook his head, realizing what had him so distracted. "I need to go back!" He abruptly stood up, almost knocking over Ez's soda.

"Hey, watch it!" Ezreal steadied his glass, glaring at Ky. "What's wrong?"

Ky had already began moving past Ezreal out of the leather booth. "I haven't checked back with the angel world since I revealed my organization's existence, and I haven't heard anything back from them, either!" He began sprinting down the aisle, throwing a confused waitress out of his way.

"Ky, wait up!" Ahri called after him, jumping over Lux's head and knocking over the same waitress before running after him on all fours. Lux and Ezreal shared a brief glance before shaking their heads, deciding it wasn't worth chasing after them.

Ky burst out the front doors of the pizzeria, immediately lifting himself into the air. Before he could start flying upwards, He felt something grab his legs, dragging him back towards the earth. He lost his balance trying to shake whatever was on him off, sending them tumbling towards the stone sidewalk below.

He braced himself for a painful impact, but instead felt himself land on something surprisingly soft and fluffy. He leaned up to see he'd landed on one of Ahri's tails, and assumed she had been the one clinging to his legs. Her body now lay halfway in the street, her bright purple T-shirt standing out against the dark pavement. By the looks of it, she'd landed on one of her tails too, which he was glad for. He snapped out of his confusion, quickly pulling her out of the way of a car that somehow hadn't noticed the crazy event, unlike everyone else around them.

"What the hell were you thinking!?" He yelled at her. She pushed him off her tail before standing up to brush the dust and gravel off her jeans.

"I could say the same thing to you!" She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Running out of a restaurant like that without paying is so rude!"

His jaw literally dropped. "So you proceeded to chase me out of it, leave your friends to pay, AND almost get hit by a car?!" He ignored the crowd forming around them, asking if he and Ahri were alright.

She sighed, nervously pulling her hair. "Look, it's not just that..." Her annoyed tone had changed to a much softer one. She walked up and grabbed Ky's hand, leading him towards a back alley. "I need to talk to you." He resisted at first, but eventually gave in and let her lead him away. She wouldn't let him leave until he complied, anyways. She stopped when they were alone, turning around quickly to face him and brushing her hair out of her eyes. Her eyes still burned a bright gold even when completely shaded. "I stopped you from leaving...because I want to be the first one from down here to join you."

He rolled his eyes. "You could've mentioned that sooner."

"I know, I'm sorry." She tilted her head down. "I just...wasn't sure until you were about to leave me behind."

He closed his eyes, considering it. "Just a heads up, if you work with me, you're going to be a target for about 50% of the angel world and probably other people down here who already hate me."

"Please, I can handle a few jackasses. Besides, the Institute won't let anyone attack us as long as we're here." She tilted her head slightly. "I'm assuming you're not planning on spending most of your time up there, right?"

He nodded, opening his eyes again. A cocky smile spread across his face. "Alright then." He dashed towards her, picking her up bridal-style. She yelped in surprised as he launched them off the ground, already flying high above the building in the area. He felt Ahri worriedly reach around him, clinging to him tightly.

"Ky, what the hell are you doing!?" He smiled down at her, turning his body almost sideways for easier movement.

"Hey, you said you wanted to come with me!" They were high above the Institution now, the now setting sun casting a bright glow over the ever approaching sky.

"I didn't think you meant right now?!" He thought her heard her start to laugh as she said this. "Holy shit, we're flying." The realization seemed to finally hit her, and he felt her begin to relax her grip around his neck.

He smiled down at her. "Next stop...Cael." She gave him a inquisitive look as they shot off further upward.

* * *

Ahri couldn't believe it. They were actually freaking flying. She had thought the most amazing thing that could happen to her was transforming from a fox into a human, but...okay, it was, but this was a close second. Far below them, a large dark blob of land lay completely surrounded by a glittering ocean. She could barely even distinguish her island home of Ionia from the rest of Valoran.

"You can literally just...fly to your world from ours?" she asked, practically yelling so that her voice could be heard over the wind roaring in her ears. Ky nodded, or at least, she thought he did. It was kind of hard to tell with her hair blown into her face. How fast could this guy fly?

"It's right above Ionia, actually."

"And by right above, you mean..."

She thought she saw him smile down at her. "Like, 13,000 feet."

"And you can't see it from the surface because..."

"It's buried deep in its own artificial cloud layer. I'm sure people have seen THAT before, but it's pretty much impossible to get a view of the actual city most of the time." Ahri nodded, feeling slightly lightheaded at the lack of oxygen. They must have been pretty darn high up. She decided to focus on her surroundings to distract herself from this. The sun had now almost completely set, half the sky losing it's orange-purple glow for a dark purple. A small crescent moon hung on the darker side, appearing so close she thought she could reach forward and grab it. She lay her head closer to Ky, suddenly feeling very tired, but pulled away in fear of embarrassing herself. Her T-shirt did little to protect her from the chill of the wind, however, so she eventually gave in and leaned closer to him for warmth. "Cold?" he asked.

"A little."

He chuckled. "Don't worry, we're almost there." She closed her eyes and waited in silence for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, until she felt water begin to dampen her clothes. She opened her eyes, and found herself unable to see even a few feet in front of her. What looked like fog swirled in front of her.

"Is this that cloud layer you were talking about?" she asked. He nodded, although the thick clouds didn't seem to slow their progress. Finally, the clouds parted...

The angel world was not anything like she expected. She had always imagined either a huge city laying on top of a cloud...even though that made no sense, or a dozen floating islands connected by golden bridges. Instead, she saw one giant floating mass of land, looking as if it was ripped straight out of the earth with chunks of dirt and rock hanging from below it. It must've been at least have the size of the entirety of Valoran, Ionia included. From their angle, all she could see were the massive marble and stone buildings topped and lined with gold, which she assumed there was an abundance of there. She predicted that there were a lot more smaller towns and villages behind the buildings given the size of the land. The sun was now only a few minutes away from completely setting, it's last light reflecting off the town, casting a shadow over her and Ky. She spotted figures flying around the giant land mass as if on patrol.

"Friends of yours?" She asked.

"Close. Enemies." he responded. He stopped moving at the very edge of the mass of clouds, just barely hidden in the swirling fog. "We got here with good timing. There's almost no light left," he noted. Ahri nodded. While the city was lit up, it would certainly be easier to slip in undetected without sunlight. He looked down at her, his face suddenly serious. "Ahri, don't forget that there are virtually no humans up here, especially with fox tails. If you're found, there's no question that you're going to be interrogated and forced to screw us over. So don't get spotted."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, thanks for the great advice, Admiral No-Shit."

"I'm...pretty sure that's not how that term goes," he countered. "Whatever." They waited a few more minutes until the sun was completely gone before flying closer to the city. "Fair warning...I may have to disintegrate your body a few times."

"Wait...what?" Her question was answered as her body disappeared. She tried to scream, but found she couldn't make a single sound. Her vision was cloudy and tinged black around the edges. She felt weightless and couldn't find anyway to control where she was moving, only being dragged along by some unknown force. It reminded her of when she died on Summoner's Rift, of her spirit leaving her body, only to be returned to it moments later.

She felt herself hit something hard out of nowhere, and never felt happier when she felt her fingers on the cool ground. She heard heavy breathing from behind her, turning to see Ky leaning against a wall, panting. "What the hell did you just do?!" she half asked, half yelled at him.

"He-hey...try not to be so lo-loud..." He spoke between his breaths.

"You're one to talk." she countered. She noticed they were in a dark alley, open on one side into the city, the other hanging of the edge of a cliff. She couldn't help but walk over and look down off the edge, unable to see any trace of land below them.

"Get away fr-from the ledge." He moved over to her and pulled her away just as one of the patrolling angels flew by the alley. It was just dark enough that they blended in to the wall. She wriggled out of his grip, moving a few feet away before turning back to him.

"I'm not going to ask again. What. Did. You. Just. Do?" She spoke in an even, icy tone, chilling him more than the cool summer night. Or, she hoped it did.

"I...turned us into shadows." She hoped that wasn't his best way of explaining it.

"You mean, like you did against Cho'Gath?" She recalled him somehow disappearing into the wall during his battle with the void beast. For the first time, she saw an...aura, of dark magic arcing off of him, signaling he had exerted a lot of effort a few seconds ago.

He nodded. "Pretty much, although I have a lot more trouble with it when there's nothing solid to slip into." A smile suddenly crossed his face. "And I've never been able to do that with anyone else before."

She felt a look of disgust come across her face. "So, worst case scenario, you would've either failed to turn into a shadow - which already makes almost no sense - gotten us caught, or succeeded and dropped me to my death?"

"Maybe," he replied. She promptly walked over and slapped him in the face. "OW!"

"How about next time you do...ya know, anything, you actually THINK about it first, kay?" She turned her expression dead serious. "You've got a lot of weight resting on your shoulders, remember."

He still held the spot where she slapped him, although he didn't seem angry. He just nodded again. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged it off, then smiled. "At least you have me here now to think things through for you, right?"

"Yeah." He suddenly seemed really distant, as if just realizing the amount of influence he held.

"You still in there?" She waved her hand in front of his face, snapping him out of his trance. "Keep in mind I have no idea where we're going without you."

* * *

Ky made sure they were EXTRA careful as they made their way to his resistance's hiding place. Which basically meant sending them on straight forward sprints, then throwing them into a wall whenever someone walked by. Literally.

After turning Ahri and himself into a shadow in the air, he had pretty much no trouble with it now that there was actually something solid to move into. He noticed her observing every little thing they passed by, the stone roads, the golden buildings, and she almost threw herself over a cliff to get another look at the view every five seconds. She didn't seem to enjoy anytime he merged them into walls or the ground, which was understandable.

They eventually ended up on the sidewalk next to a large park in the center of town. It suddenly reminded him of the Institute, although he wondered why it took him this long to notice the similarities. They tried to move quickly along the path as it was almost fully illuminated by streetlights.

"Why aren't there any civilians around?" Ahri asked him, not slowing down at all.

"Curfews. You can't be out on the streets past 9:00 unless you're a guard, soldier, or officer."

She cringed. "Well that's stupid. How come?"

He shook his head. "They think it keeps crime down, although all it really does is prevent people from working longer. Even if pedestrians with no homes to go back to are found, they're brought into custody. It's one of the many, MANY terrible decisions our goons in the government are making."

"No wonder you want change so badly."

"Hey!" A gruff voice called to them. They looked over to see a patrolling officer flying slowly towards them.

"Shit." Ky got ready to hide them, although he felt a calming hand on his arm.

"Relax. I'll take care of this." She gently pushed him to the side, slowly walking past him towards the now grounded officer.

"It's illegal to be outside this time of nigh-" His sentence was cut off as Ahri blew a kiss at him, conjuring a big, pink heart from her lips and shooting it at the angel. It exploded into more hearts as it slammed into his chest, causing him to stop in place momentarily. A drowsy look came over his eyes as he began trudging toward her, tripping over his own feet and lowering his guard completely.

Ahri spoke softly. "You never saw us, okay big guy?" The officer simply nodded, although his focus didn't shift away from her. A strange pink aura hung off him, signaling she was using some kind of magic on him. "Alright. Now turn around and go home." A sad look came over his eyes at being asked to leave, although he didn't need to be told twice. Ky waited to talk to her until the officer disappeared around the corner.

"Impressive. Charm, right?" He was pretty sure he recognized the ability from watching her on Summoner's Rift.

"Yeah, although you really shouldn't be impressed." She turned around to face him, not looking the least bit tired from conjuring the spell. "Charming morons like him is easy. Are almost to your little hideaway?"

"The entrance is right over here, actually." He ran a little ways down the sidewalk, eventually getting down on his knees to open a sewer grate.

"Ugh, how did I know you were going to end up dragging me into a sewer?" He laughed slightly at her obvious distaste as she stopped next to him.

"Don't worry, it's not quite as bad as you think. We just to get to there from the sewer."

"Sounds great." She cut him off as he gestured to the opening. "Yeah, yeah, ladies first. Just save it." He heard her intentionally loud sigh echo off the thick walls as she descended with Ky following close behind.


	9. Chapter 9: Beneath the Floating Island

It was really the stench that killed her. Ahri hadn't assumed the sewers were going to smell like a bundle of roses or anything, but she never would've thought it could be THIS bad. The air smelled like a combination of rotting fish, vomit, and rat poison. It wasn't like her surroundings were any better either. The ladder the climbed down was so rusted it might as well have been painted that color. The temperature change was brutal as the warm summer night became a cold winter's day. Muddy brown walls closed in around her, giving her a very confined feeling. It didn't help when Ky stepped in her hand.

"Ow! Watch where you're going!" She shot him a glare, although she doubted he saw it from above her with his back turned.

"Climb faster!" he called back. She groaned, ignoring the slight pain in her hand and taking his advice, trying not to throw up as they went deeper...underground? I mean, they were technically still in the sky, right?

After what felt like hours, she felt her feet abruptly stop as they met solid ground. The sound of nearby rushing water probably could've tipped her off, but she was too focused on not breathing. Muddy green sewage, almost the same color of the wall, moved swiftly past her in its own wide but not very deep crevice disappearing through a set of iron bars. She found it impossible to see more than a few meters in front of her. The only light source she could see was the occasional tiny light bulb that did virtually nothing to illuminate the tunnel. She heard Ky plant his feet on the concrete behind her, causing a loud thud to echo through the cavern.

"Where does all your sewage end up, anyways?" she asked.

He turned around to face her and shrugged. "Same place yours goes to. The ocean."

She cringed. "You literally just...dump it? From 13,000 feet?"

"Yep. It all goes to a storage area where we dump it once every so often."

"Didn't you say this place was right above Ionia?!"

He held his hands up in defense. "Calm down! We make sure it doesn't land on the island itself." He moved past her, taking the lead once more. From what she'd seen, he didn't seem to mind the disgusting environment they found themselves, and navigated it without ever stopping to change direction or make sure they were headed the right way.

"Does this smell not bother you at all?"

"Please. I've been back and forth through this place 3...maybe 4 thousand times?" He glanced back at her without slowing his pace. "You get used to it when you practically live in it."

She snickered at him. "I mean, it's probably better than living in Zaun."

"That's the...super polluted, creepy experiment place, right?" Ky asked. She nodded, then gagged on a particularly terrible breath of air.

"Can we, I dunno, move faster?!" The terrible conditions and smell began to make her eyes water.

As if on cue, Ky lifted himself off the ground, flying much faster than they'd just been moving. His wings looked confined in the tights space, but it didn't seem to slow him down. "If you think you can keep up!" he called back to her.

Ahri rolled her eyes at him. "Same to you." she muttered under her breath. She let him get further ahead of her since she had no idea where they were going, then jumped on all fours and sprinted after him. Even while flying, he wasn't fast enough for her. The odd feeling of cement on her hands instead of the usual forest floor she ran on did little to slow her down. She cut through the air so quickly she could ignore the putrid smell. Just as she saw Ky slow down, as if they were nearing their destination, she went into one final dash and passed him before he came to a complete stop.

"Holy-!" His sentence was cut off as a gust of hot air rushed by him and almost knocked him over. Ahri stared confidently back at him. "Um, are your tails supposed to do that?" She looked behind her to see her usually white and puffy tails were lit with bright orange flames, smoke rising off and mixing with the nearly toxic air.

She shrugged. "They do that sometimes." She waited a second for them to return the normal, the fire emanating heat, but not hurting her. It disappeared after a few seconds revealing her fur to be unscathed by the flames.

"How?-"

She rolled her eyes. "I have no idea why it happens, alright? Although it looks pretty cool, doesn't it?" she added with a wink.

"Sure, if you enjoy looking like a walking fire pit." She put an over exaggerated smile on her face, taking a few steps closer to him.

"Thanks! Maybe you could roast marshmallows over me!" She made her voice sound as high-pitched and cheerful as possible to get a laugh out of Ky. He chuckled, but nothing more. "So, where's the entrance? To your base, I mean?"

Ky turned towards the wall, pounding on it with his fist. If slamming his hand against a brick wall hurt, he certainly didn't show it. "Cody! I'm back! Open the door." After about half a minute, when Ahri had just about decided Ky was insane, a small slit of the wall slid open, revealing a pair of bright blue eyes.

"What's the password?" a deep male voice asked.

Ky rolled his eyes. "Cody, how many times do I have to tell you that there isn't a gods damn password." He sounded completely uninterested, like he was sick of this bit.

"C'mon, Ky. I was just messing with you!" Apparently the deep voice was a joke, because 'Cody's' voice sounded much higher pitched, slightly more-so than Ky's. The slit in the wall closed, and a moment passed before a large section of the wall slid forward and to the side. She had to admit, it was a really good hiding place for their base. Even if people came looking for Ky's organization, the entrance was so vague it'd be almost impossible to find.

A figure immediately emerged from the opening and threw itself on Ky, nearly knocking him over. Ahri saw a flash of white feathers in front of her face and heard Ky grunt in surprise. "Thank the gods you're okay!" The angel, Cody, had Ky in a half choke hold, half bear hug. "We thought you were dead when we heard you were shot out of the sky!"

Ky gagged, trying to push Cody off. "Geez, Cody, relax, I'm fine!" He managed to get him off, allowing Ahri to get a good look at Cody. He was a good three inches taller than Ky, but not any more muscular. He was just as thin, although it was hard to tell as he was wearing the same robe as Ky. His chestnut brown hair stood out against his bright blue eyes and pale skin. She took note of his bright white wings, her mouth falling open as she spotted a large scar on the outside of his right wing. It ran the entire length of the feathery cartilage, cutting all the way through in places with more holes than a beehive. She wondered whether or not he could fly.

She was about to say something about it when Ky cut her off. "It's good to see you too, Cody."

"So, who's your girlfriend?"

Ahri finally got a word in before Ky could argue. "I'm Ahri." She held out her hand to shake. "And no, we're not dating. We only met like, two days ago." Cody returned the hand shake, a sudden eager look filling his eyes.

"Great to meet you!" Gods, this guy was hyper. He reminded her of Ezreal, aside from the wings larger than his whole body. "I can't believe I didn't recognize you. I'm a huge fan!"

Ahri blushed. She often forgot she was a kind of celebrity for being a member of the League. "Oh. Um, thanks."

"You're the first new recruit, right?"

What was this, twenty questions? She frowned. "No, I just allowed this guy to drag me all the way here for the wonderful venue. The constant smell of shit really brings out the colorless wall." She took a few steps towards the opening. "I hope your little hiding place smells better than it does out here..."

"Trust me, it does." Cody assured her, passing her on the way to the opening and starting down it. Ky walked by her as well, clearly interested in discussing things with Cody. Ahri followed from behind, hearing the wall slide shut behind her.

* * *

Ky held back his excitement at seeing their organization undiscovered and, according to Cody, running as smoothly as it usually did. He had worried that revealing it's existence before dropping to the surface would leave it completely open to attack, but he knew that keeping it in secret any longer would halt it's growth tremendously. Plus, it'd done exactly what he'd hope it accomplish; alerting Kayle and the rest of the surface early, making it much easier to sway others into joining.

"So, any activity down here while I was gone?" Ky asked.

Cody nodded. "Yep. Those suckers came looking down here for hours, searching for any trace of us. They never even came close," he added with a wink.

"What is this place exactly?" Ahri cut in. "It doesn't feel like we're in the sewers anymore," she noted, clearly referring the the diminishing smell.

"Good question." Ky remarked. "We don't know much about it, except these tunnels have been abandoned for millennia. We did some research, and found out they were used in some kind of war that time eventually forgot. Either that or it was a group of kids having a field day." He added with a smile. "They connect to the sewer in multiple places, although we sealed off every one of them aside from two; this entrance, and an escape route.

"How did you find all this?"

Ky's smiled disappeared. "I...had a lot of time to myself." He walked ahead of Ahri and Cody, not wanting to discuss it further.

"Uh...was it something I said?" Ahri called from behind him. His suddenly felt really cramped in the thin hallway, running his hand along the thing wall and pulling his wings in to make room. There was hardly any light ahead of them, making it almost impossible to see where he was going without his hand guiding him. He suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Hey, Ky?" Cody asked.

"What?" His voice was sharp, although he knew Cody wouldn't back off. He never did.

"I know it's probably not a good time, but..." He paused, deciding whether or not to press on. "What was it like down there?"

Ky sighed. Cody had always been curious about the world down below them, which they could rarely ever see with the clouds constantly swirling around the floating island. He had been too, to be fair. The school systems always seemed to drill it into their heads that the surface was "dangerous," and that it had been and always would be forbidden, but that just made them more curious. It was practically all they would talk about when they were kids, hell, it was all they talked about till moments before he left. 23,000 years of wonder, and he had to admit...

"It wasn't anything special." he replied in an even tone.

Cody took a breath, then let out a shallow laugh. "That's what I was always afraid you'd say..." Cody had been subtly dropping hints about wanting to go with Ky on his first journey down to the surface, but Ky had wanted him to look after everything for the few days he would be gone. He could tell he'd been pissed at him then, but now, he just seemed downright depressed about it.

Ky put an arm on Cody's shoulder. "Cody..."

Cody shrugged, although he didn't remove Ky's arm. "Look, it's fine. I...I kinda always knew." Even the past 100 years when the surface had finally began making contact with the angel world, the excitement had died down for them a bit. "Don't ever scare me like that again!" Cody blurted out. If Ky could see Cody's face, he imagined it would be tinged with red.

"Huh?"

"When you were knocked out of the sky, I-I seriously thought you were dead! Just like that, everything we always worked towards, everything we ever did together...gone!"

"I-I'm sorry..." Ky stammered. He'd never seen Cody this upset before, even after everything that happened.

"No...I am." Cody let out another shaky laugh. "It just...really sucks thinking your best friend died."

Ky nodded, although he knew Cody couldn't see it. "I'd been the same way, buddy." They held a moment of silence, then heard the sound of something smacking into a wall from close behind.

"Gods dammit!" Ahri yelled. "Ky? Cody? Are you there? Ow!" Heavy footsteps fell close behind them. "I'm really terrible with close spaces!" Something stumbled into Ky and Cody, knocking all three of them to the ground. "Shit! Sorry." she groaned in pain.

Even after getting hit in the back of the head by what he assumed was Ahri's foot, Ky couldn't help but laugh. He heard Cody laughing too a few inches away. "Jeez Ahri, you're a lot more of a klutz in person!" Cody said, his voice still filled with laughter.

"I told you! It's cause I'm terrible with...oh, never mind." She stumbled over the both of them again and continued down the corridor. Ky got up, then managed to find Cody's hand and pull him off the ground.

"Alright, we've wasted enough time." Ky told him.

"Fair enough. I'm sick of this tunnel anyways," Cody agreed. They made small talk the rest of the way until they finally saw light at the end of the tunnel.

* * *

Ahri was the first to the end of the tunnel, and she couldn't be more happy about it. She despised anything dark and claustrophobic, and while they were still underground, at least she could freaking see.

As she emerged, her ears were immediately assaulted by a ton of commotion. She had to shield her eyes to see anything clearly. The room seemed absurdly large compared to the narrowness of the cavern behind her. It had the same brick walls and stone floor, although it was much cleaner and better kept that what they just came through. Almost every person Ahri saw run by had wings and wore robes similar to Ky and Cody, making her feel like a kind of odd woman out. They were often carrying things like boxes, food trays, weapons, and pretty much anything you could imagine. She swore she saw the same lady run by twice in ten seconds with different items.

People slowed down to stare at her sometimes, which was understandable. She doubted a lot of these people had ever seen a human before, let alone a kitsune. Still, it made her anxious until Ky and Cody eventually emerged from the opening.

"Finally, there you guys are!"

Cody flinched. "Finally? It's been like, ten, maybe twenty seconds." People almost immediately swarmed them as they saw Ky had returned. Ahri was virtually shoved out of the way multiple times as people rushed by to talk with him. She swore feathers smacked her in the face at least 5 times.

"I'll answer your questions in a second, just give me some room to breathe!" Ky teleported through the crowd and ended up next to Ahri.

"You have quite the fan base there, my friend," Ahri said with a smirk.

"There not usually all hyped like this..." He turned his attention away from her and back to Cody, who was still trying to slip through the crowd. "Cody, call a meeting in the central hall. Five minutes."

"I'm on it, your highness!" Cody called back, clearly annoyed. The group of angels seemed to calm down a bit at this, giving Cody room to breathe.

Ahri felt a light tap on her shoulder. "C'mon, I'll give you the tour." Ky said. "It's pretty small honestly, should only take a few minutes." She followed close behind him as he traversed the over populated room, often brushing by other people. "This is the central hall. It's mostly just used as an entrance, and a place for meetings." He gestured to openings on the right and left walls. "Sleeping quarters on the right, hospital and sick waiting quarters on the left." Ahri heard a few coughs from the 'hospital' although she couldn't get a good view of it. She assumed it wasn't too occupied, considering Ky's cult hadn't fought in any battles yet as far as she knew. "Up ahead is the cafeteria, which has a few branching paths off to my office, a few storage rooms, and the back exit."

"Bathrooms?" Ahri cut in.

Ky turned his head and smiled, pointing back the way they came. "Sewers right there honey."

"Fun. I'll be sleeping at the Institute then."

"Aw, you sure? The service here is great!"

"I'm pretty sure that five-star review was a fluke," she said slyly. Ky let out a short laugh, leading her into the cafeteria. It was much more cluttered than the Institution's, and from the look of it, pretty disgusting. Splotches of red, orange, and brown stained the tables and floor, and the smell was near appalling. "DEFINITELY a fluke. Your kitchen smells worse than the sewer." She strolled out in front of him. "Where do you even get your supplies?"

"Steal them," he said plainly. "Government stores food and the lot in one place above ground with crappy security."

"Yeah, but, where do you get your meat and stuff? I didn't see enough space for too much wildlife up here."

"Well, we barely eat meat. Most of our food is grown-"

"I'm out." Ahri turned around pretending to leave, as Ky reached out to grab her hand.

"Tour's not over,'' he said matter of factly.

"Nothing much else to see," she countered. "Unless you have a spa hidden somewhere down here."

"There's one more room." He led her through the scattered tables and a small doorway at the other end of the room. "My office." Ky led her into a relatively small space with just enough room for a sofa, desk, and an entire system of security cameras. She noticed the screens all showed parts of the sewer, and a few showed the streets above them. There was barely any room to move around.

"Does this qualify as an office?" she asked.

"Not really. Do I care? No." He slid around the cramped desk and sat down on the half white, half black sofa and crossed his arms behind his head. Ahri took notice of a large book sitting on the desk, flipped open about halfway through. To her surprise, Ahri saw a picture of herself displayed on the left page, with her name, lore, statistics, and abilities for the League of Legends written on the right page.

"Ky? Is there something you wanna tell me?" He sat up and saw what she was staring at.

"Oh, that's just a book describing the Institute of War and its champions." He leaned forward and turned it to the front cover. The title read simply "The Institute of War" and showed an image of Summoner's Rift from an aerial view. "That's the page I left off on before I came down to the surface."

Ahri winked at him. "Sure it is."

He stood up quickly. "No, seriously." She started giggling to herself, unable to control it. "What?"

"Are you a FANBOY of me?"

He sighed. "Well no matter what I say you're not going to listen to me, so as far as you know, I am." He didn't interrupt her laughter for a few seconds. "Look, I have a speech to give, so if you'll excuse me..."

"Oh yeah, that." She got her laughter under control and started out, but stopped when something caught her eye. On the table underneath the security camera screens sat a lone picture with a bronze frame. It depicted a beautiful young woman with a confident smile. Long blonde hair framed her face and accentuated her features. What stood out most to Ahri were the woman's cool, gray eyes, brimming with life.

Ahri picked up the portrait to get a better look at it. Where had she seen those eyes before?

"Ahri. Put it down." She nervously swung around to find Ky leaning in the doorway, his eyes now furious.

"Why? Who is she?"

"Ahri." Despite the look he was giving her, his voice was calm and collected. "Put. It. Down." She gently placed it back on the table without turning away from him, as if he would pounce on her at any moment. They locked eyes for a moment before he backed out of the doorway.

Ahri shook her head to clear her thoughts before following him back out into the main hall. The room was even more flooded with people than before. At least 90% of the space was occupied. "...So what exactly are you going to say?" she ventured.

"Ah, good to see you again Ky, my boy." An older man with a thick white mustache came up behind Ky and slapped him on the back, interrupting his response. He practically towered over Ky, a good seven or eight inches taller.

"Good to see you too, Garmond." ' Garmond' let out a short, deep laugh.

"I thought I told you to call me James."

"Doesn't feel right, talking to someone in your position of power casually."

A glint appeared in his seemingly ancient green eyes. "You still technically outrank me, friend."

"Who is this?" Ahri cut in, a blatant look of confusion across her face. Whether Ky had quickly gotten over what happened a few moments ago or just ignored it, he seemed back to normal.

"Oh, right, introductions." Ky cleared his throat. "This is James Garmond...the future president of Cael."

"Future president?" Ahri had thought that when this was over, Ky would be the one to step up and lead...Cael, she guessed...back to its supposed former glory.

Ky shrugged, then responded as if he'd been able to read her thoughts. "That kind of life isn't for me."

"Wouldn't have guessed," she lied. "Oh, I'm Ahri, by the way."

"Ah yes, I recognize you from the Institute of War. You've always been one of my favorites to watch."

Ahri blushed. "Well, it's an honor to hear you say that!"

Garmond smiled down at her. "I'm not president yet, dear. No need to be so nervous."

"Right, sorry." She mentally scolded herself for acting so star struck. "So, you and Ky already have all that stuff taken care of, then."

Garmond waved his hand. "I won't bother boring you with the politics, but trust me when I say Ky and I have every position filled with an appropriate person."

"Believe me, I wasn't going to ask about the politics."

Garmond turned to face Ky. "I'm guessing you called this meeting for a reason, so I'll leave you it." He walked off to join the rest of the audience.

"Wow, he's really nice," Ahri remarked.

"Yep. And unlike most nice leaders, he's actually not an idiot. He ran for president a few years ago, but once Kayle heard of the changes he planned to make, she tipped the scale in the current president's favor. Her influence is ridiculous," he added. "Ever since then, he's been working with us." Ahri frowned, leaning back against the wall.

"Damn, I hated Kayle enough already, but the way you describe her, she sounds borderline evil."

Ky closed his eyes. "She's not evil, just a little power-hungry, and VERY misguided. Oh, and a bit of a bitch. Did I mention I hate her?" he quickly added.

Ahri smiled. "Alright, go give your life-changing speech, mister-higher-ranking-than-the-president."

He smirked at her. "Just leave it to Ky." She watched as he took a few steps ahead of her and stood up on cardboard box placed there especially for him. Wasn't exactly a stage, but it worked, she guessed.

Ky raised his hands to quiet the annoyingly loud crowd. As he waited for them to quiet down, he couldn't help but marvel at the amount of followers he had already picked up before gathering them from the surface.

His right wing twitched slightly as he began talking. "Hello, everyone. Good to see nothing blew up in the day I was gone." His quip earned a few laughs and murmurs from the crowd. "Glad to announce that I'm fine, the plans going accordingly, and Kayle is super pissed off. I kinda kicked her ass in the first two hours I was there. Anyways, you're looking at the newest champion to join the Institute of War." The rag-tag group of angels let out excited cheers at this news. He could hear Ahri slowly clapping behind him as a joke.

"It also excites me to tell you that I've already found our first new member." He whipped around. "The League of Legends' one and only, Ahri!"

Ahri really hadn't been prepared for Ky to announce her name to the crowd. She simply waved to them and said, "Don't worry, I hate Kayle too."

Ky faced the audience again. "Finally, there's one more thing I want to share with you guys. The Institute is holding a fighting tournament in a couple of weeks, and I've already signed up for it. If, sorry, WHEN I win, the people of Valoran should start flocking to us like birds to bread crumbs. Cody and I are already figuring out a way to get them here safely."

Ahri's sensitive ears on the top of her head twitched, picking up another sound besides Ky's voice. She listened more carefully, eventually identifying it as an alarm.

"Ky!" she called. He turned to her, a curious look in his eyes. "I hear an alarm coming from your office." He leaped off the box and sprinted through the doorway with her following close by. Sure enough, the sound got louder as they moved through the cafeteria.

Ky, Ahri, and eventually Cody sped into the office. A light was flashing red, and the alarm sound loud and obnoxious. Ky switched it off while Cody turned to take a look at the cameras. "It's just a few of Kayle's goons." he said laxly. "Oh...wait, there's more of em! Look's like ten or eleven." He looked back at Ky and Ahri. "Wanna take them out, or just leave them?"

Ky put his hand under his chin, considering this. "Normally, I'd just say leave em, but I've actually wanted a few sets of their armor for a plan I have cooking up..."

"Oh!" Ahri yelled excitedly. "Let me take them out! You still haven't seen me fight outside the rift, and I've been looking for a workout."

Ky considered this. "You sure you can fight that many of them on your own?"

She rolled her eyes. "Please. They'd need at least a hundred of them for a fair match...maybe more, not sure how competent they are."

"I'm not sure..."

"Look," Cody cut in. "It's fine. Me and some other guys will go with her and back her up if she gets into trouble. Besides, you need someone to lug those guys back here for their uniforms and armor, right babe?"

"DON'T call me babe," Ahri responded.

"Got it, love," he said back with a smirk.

"Ugh." She face-palmed and locked eyes with Ky. "C'mon, even if you don't approve I'll go anyways, so you might as well let me."

He sighed. "Fine...grab a few men and head out to quadrant B, section two."

"Lets go!" Cody called, already back out in the cafeteria.

Ahri started after him, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. "Be careful, kay?" Ky said.

She was glad her back was to him so he couldn't see her blush. "Thanks, but I'll be fine." Ahri hopped on all fours and sprinted after Cody.

* * *

Gods, he hated Kayle's pointless recon missions in the sewer. Not once had his soldiers ever found a single trace of Ky and his gang, before or after it's existence was revealed. And yet she kept sending them, more and more each time, in the hopes of finding even the tiniest piece of evidence to there whereabouts. What a waste of time.

"Captain!" He looked up to see one of his soldiers running back towards him, trying not to push anyone into the rancid sewage. "We heard someone crying from around the corner up ahead!"

"Well, what are we waiting for then? It's more than anything else we've yet to find down here." They quickened their pace as the sound of sniffling got progressively louder and louder.

"I-Is someone here?" a girl's voice called, shaking slightly from the sniffling. "Help me, please, help me!" He rounded the corner in front of his men and found a young woman clutching her knees to her chest. Her long black hair mixed with tears covering her face.

"Are you okay? What happened!" He questioned.

"I have no idea!" she practically yelled, echoing off the thick walls. "I just woke up here...and that's all I can remember!" She started sobbing again, pulling her head into her knees.

"Calm down, everything's going to be fine." He noticed her large, bushy tails for the first time. "By the looks of it, I may have an idea of who you are." The woman smiled at this, and appeared to stop crying.

"I was so worried no one would find me..." she trailed off. He turned around and rolled his eyes at the woman, too stupid to try to find her way out of here on her own. His men began rounding the corner.

"We've got a case of amnesia over here. It appears to be-"

A sharp kick in his back sent him flying into his comrade. Feathers flew everywhere as he and his soldier flew into the filthy sludge below. He heard the woman's voice as he struggled to climb out of the sewage.

"Was it Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox?"

* * *

Ahri was ready for a fight. Well, anything to distract her from her thoughts on the woman from the photo, but a fight sounded particularly fun. As the soldiers flew around her to block her path of escape, which she had no intention of doing, she simply stretched out in front of them as if to taunt them. As she did this, they began drawing their weapons, spears made of pure gold.

"What is it with you angels and gold?" she asked, not expecting a response. "Whatever." She conjured a spark of blue flames in each hand. "Lets dance, boys!"

Immediately as she said this, the soldiers lunged at her with their spears, fully intent to kill her. She flipped backwards and off the wall to narrowly avoid them, jumping over to the other side of the sewage filled ravine. Upon landing, she fired blue flames at her opponents, which quickly homed in on their bodies. While the fire did little to penetrate their armor, a few unlucky soldiers' wings ignited. While some plunged into the sewage in an attempt to extinguish the flames, others retaliated by launching bolts of light magic at her, or flying close to attack with their spears.

Ahri yawned, effortlessly ducking the projectiles and shifting out of the way of the spear men. She could end this fight in a few seconds, but decided she needed a good work-out. Soon, every single one of the soldiers had closed in and her. Their swipes came fast and uncoordinated, sometimes scraping the wall, ground, and even each other.

She had almost no trouble. Time always seemed to slow down for her in situations like this. The ten guys surrounding her posed no threat as she dodged every single strike, even with the nuisance of her huge tails. The closest anything came to her was brushing through her hair. It was fun to imagine the surprise on their faces at their repeated failures of attacking.

After a good 20 seconds, Ahri blasted her enemies away with a column of fire. She stopped a moment to take a deep breath. "Gods, your skills smell worse than the sewage..." she jested, whether or not they could hear her. She conjured her orb of deception in her hand, a tool she often used for combat, as well as to store the souls she had collected over the years. Hearing a gush of wind from behind her, she instinctively back-flipped and landed on the shoulders of an airborne soldier. "Trying to sweep me off my feet, and we've only just met?" Flames yet again appeared in her hand. She surprised him by delivering a punch instead of shooting flames, denting his helmet and sending him spiraling towards the ground. He crashed into the cement as Ahri leaped off him.

"I've seen blobs of goo with more coordination than you!" she called to his unconscious form. The group of soldiers were beginning to show signs of retreat. "Leaving so soon? I haven't even put out snacks yet!" She launched her orb at their cluttered bodies, bowling them over and knocking them towards her on the way back. It had strange physical properties for a ball of souls.

She surrounded herself in fire and dashed forward, knocking one guy out and launching fire balls that took care of three more. _ Five down, six to go. _She engulfed her hands and feet in flames and dashed forward once again, this time unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks on any one of them to get close. Her magic increased the potential of her hand-to-hand combat, making every blow she delivered like getting smacked with a sledgehammer.

Finally, only one other soldier remained. "So, you're the captain, huh?" she asked. He looked more like a peasant than a captain. His wings and armor still dripped with sewage. He was practically quaking in his boots, not even bothering to hide his fear. "Aw, you scared, honey?" She took a sensual step towards him. "Here, I have just the thing to calm you down." She blew a charm at him, causing him to stop shaking and walk towards her slowly. Just as he reached her open arms, she easily lifted him over her head and slammed him to the ground.

Ahri examined the tips of her fingers. "Huh, looks like I broke a nail." A smile encompassed her face. "Good thing it wasn't mine!...Damn, I don't give Leona enough credit, that line is _cool_!" Footsteps echoed off the walls behind her. She whipped around expecting more soldiers, but found Cody and a group of about ten men behind him sprinting towards her.

"Wow, Ahri!" He had the excitement of a little kid pent up in his voice. "That was...incredible! I mean, I knew you could fight, but that was WAY cooler than watching you on the Rift!"

"And take a look!" she added, posing for the group. "Not a scratch on me. Gotta be a new record." She leaned down and picked the captain's limp body off the ground with a single hand, holding him above her head triumphantly. "Alright, lets head back. Better not to keep mister back-story waiting." She strolled past them, leaving the rest of the unconscious soldiers for the picking. Cody rushed to catch up with her, having a hard time lifting the full-armored soldier.

"H-hey..." he began, wheezing slightly. "How the h-hell are you carrying him that easily?"

"Magic," she blatantly stated.

"Seriously?"

She nodded, gesturing to the blue aura around her hands. "I can use it to strengthen my body for a little while. Kinda like a burst of adrenaline...that lets you dent steel and potentially punch and kick through walls." Cody nodded in partial understanding, dropping his cargo on its head.

"Whoops," he said with a smile.

* * *

Ky was stunned. Well, stunned was putting it nicely. It was more like, "Holy shit, WTF did I just witness?" Even watching over the low quality cameras, he'd never seen anyone fight like that...well, except maybe for him. He fell back in his couch, covering his face with his hands. If she decided to sign up for that tournament as well, then there was actually a possibility of him _losing. _It wouldn't be the end of the world or anything, but it would certainly slow him down. And knowing Ahri, there's no way she'd go easy on him. Not that he'd want her too. Maybe he needed the extra challenge; actually feel like he accomplished something.

He leaned forward, the picture Ahri had noticed earlier catching his eye. Somehow, it ended up in his hand, and he found his eyes staring into the woman's. "Ya know, you're really putting me through hell to keep that promise I made to you," he whispered. Anger suddenly washed through his body like a wave. It was all he could do to keep from crushing the frame and paper along with it. "I swear, I'll kill them for what she did to you mom..." He set it back down before he got carried away. "I'll tear ever fiber of their gods damned bodies apart." His voice was shaking. He couldn't allow this to continue. He had to be strong for his friends. For his mother. For himself.

He spun around, slashing the wall with his blades and carving out a huge chunk of it. "Let's see how you enjoy MY justice, Kayle. And Morgana, too."


	10. Chapter 10: Codester and Ahrone

_He wandered the school grounds a few minutes after dismissal. His mother had told him to wait a while before coming home, saying she needed a little time to set up her surprise for his birthday. Not wanting to find any trouble, he stayed in the second safest place he knew. He involuntarily scratched at his right wing, the black feathers made to look white by a thin veil of magic. When he complained to his mother, she countered with, "Consider yourself lucky. I have to hide_ both _of mine." He still didn't fully understand why they had to keep their dark powers, let alone the color of their wings, secret. _

_It was the third in a string of particularly dreary days. The ground was caked in mud, and the clutter of clouds above him were dark as ash. Rain lightly drizzled towards the ground, rolling off his already soaked T-shirt and onto the sidewalk. It didn't bother him as much as it probably should have. He was too excited for what surprise awaited him at home. _

_Sounds of construction resonated in the distance, startling a few nearby birds out of their nest. He watched them curiously as they flew off towards the center of town, an act he could not yet do with his wings still growing. Perhaps that was why they interested him so much. Or maybe it was how rare the sight of them were in his world. They more or less dwelt on_ _the surface of...Runeterra, he heard it was called_..._almost never appearing for the angels to witness. He sometimes wondered how they even survived the journey. _

"_Ungh!" he heard a voice grunt, accompanied by a thud. He turned the corner of the school, finding a group of older kids pinning a boy his age to the wall. The boy's chestnut brown hair was mangled, and his eye was beaten to a black and blue pulp."Oh c'mon, what's the problem?" the oldest of them and the one pinning the boy to the wall asked. "Why don't ya just blink out?" he taunted. One of the other punks demonstrated by momentarily surrounding himself in light and teleporting a few feet. "Oh that's right, ya can't!" He and his friends shared a laugh, as if he'd actually said something relatively funny. Ky watched as the victim momentarily threw his much larger captivator off and kicked him in the groin. This only earned him a second of satisfaction as another bully punched him in the face, drawing blood from his mouth and pinning him against the wall once more. "You're gonna pay for that!" yelled the first bully. They group closed in around their captive._

_A bolt of light magic landed at the packs feet, sticking into the ground like a knife. They looked up to see another boy's eyes glowing white, magic radiating off his hand. "I'd say something like 'go pick on someone your own size,' but you're probably not smart enough to understand insults that complex." He teleported away, momentarily confusing the group, only to reappear next to the pinned boy and blast the others away. The amount of magic he was exerting already had him panting, although he couldn't let up just yet. One of the older kids conjured his own light projectile to attack with, which the newcomer easily dodged. Another rushed him with his fist pulled back. The bully's attack was easily avoided. The fool was only given a second to react before getting kicked against the wall. Yet another came running at him, this time getting jumped over and kicked in the head._

_He was extra careful to withhold his dark magic for now. His mother had warned him not to use it unless they were completely alone. He didn't need it anyways. These guys were uncoordinated at best. He teleported himself and the injured boy a little ways away, although they were being quickly pursued. He snapped his fingers, conjuring several bolts to hover behind his head. He smirked at the approaching bullies, snapping his fingers again to fire the barrage of projectiles. Each one found their mark and sunk into one of the five punk's shoulders. They cried in pain, feeling blood begin to drip from their wounds. They stared at the confident yet tired form of the mysterious boy before turning and flying away in fear._

_He reached his hand out to help the injured boy up. "You okay?" he asked, even though he wasn't sure how good HE felt. That battle, while easy, took a lot of his energy. He was sure his face was bright red, and he was panting rapidly._

_The boy allowed himself to put helped up, spitting blood out of his mouth. Surprisingly, he put on a goofy smile. "That was awesome, dude! What's your name?" _

_He took a step back. "Ky." The odd boy rubbed his injured eye subconsciously. _

_"Well Ky, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen! You just took on 5 guys twice your size at once! And then the part where you kicked him in the head..." he imitated the action excitedly. _

_Ky scratched the back of his head, wondering what this guy's deal was. He stood by and listened while the boy basically relayed the short battle back to him. "Why were those guys picking on you, anyways?" he interrupted. "It looked pretty serious." _

_The kid paused his theatrics, turning back to Ky. "Oh, they made fun of me for being a _paganus_, 'cause i can't use magic. I sorta decked one of them in the face. Things got ugly pretty fast." Ky nodded. _Pagana_ were usually picked on for their inability to use any kind of magic. It was considered almost as bad as using dark magic. "What's dumb is that I know for a FACT one of them is a paganus too. Oh, I'm Cody, by the way."_

_Ky smiled. "Cool to meet you." His smile disappeared as Cody coughed up more blood. "Hey, do you want help getting home? Or, to a hospital or something?" _

_He shook his head. "I'll be fine. My orphanage is just around the block." He turned and starting to walk away. Ky swore he detected the slightest limp in his step. "See ya later, Ky." _

_Ky rushed forward and took Cody's shoulder, brushing the boy's wing out of his face. "Please. You'd take three steps and fall over if I didn't help you." _

_Cody attempted to shrug Ky's hand off, but failed. "Seriously, I'm fine." _

_"No, you're not. Now shut up and let me help you." _

_Cody seemed to give up on his protests. After a couple minutes of slowly walking in the direction Cody had started in, he interrupted the silence. "Thanks, man." _

_"Don't mention it." Ky figured he should have recognized Cody by now, especially since there were only about a hundred students at his school, but still couldn't remember seeing him anywhere, not even in the corridors. "Do you even go to that school?"_

_He blinked at him. "Yeah. I've passed you in the halls a ton. You're really spacey, you know that?" Ky mentally face-palmed. Five thousand years (granted only five were actually spent in school), and he never once noticed this kid. He really WAS spacey. _

_As they neared the orphanage, Ky couldn't help but noticed how small and abandoned it looked. It was only about a story tall, if even that, and the dark green shingles were peeling off the roof in places. The trees surrounding still hadn't fully recovered from the winter's chill from only a few weeks ago. They stood short and mostly bare, with wood rotting in places. The same went for the building itself. "Is that place fit for people to live in?" he asked._

_Cody smiled, his limp already deteriorating. "Nope." Ky laughed, leading him up the front steps. Each floorboard creaked louder than the shouting he could hear coming from inside, which was pretty loud. "You're gonna want to get out of here, Ky. The matron is kind of...lets say loud."_

_"All right," he shrugged. He turned to head back down the steps, eager to get home. "You sure you okay?" he called over his shoulder, not bothering to stop._

_Cody waved his hand. "Don't worry about me. I'm already feeling better." He raised an eyebrow. "Jeez, what has you in such a hurry?"_

_"Got a surprise waiting for me back home." Ky yelled back. "It's my birthday."_

_"Oh! Happy birthday!" called his new friend. Ky was already racing down the street in the direction of his home. He lived outside the city, in a small living area near the very edge of Cael. It would probably take him a good fifteen minutes to run there._ At least it stopped raining_, he thought._

_The sun had just managed to push through the thick cloud layer as he arrived on his street. The light glistened off the leftover rain drops, lifting the dreary mood. Ky spotted his house at the end of the street and sprinted towards it. It was small, barely bigger than a log cabin, but it suited him and his mother well._

_"Mom, I'm home!" he shouted as he bursted through the door. Sure enough, he heard his mom in the next room over, preparing something in the kitchen. He slipped by the dinner table and chairs and teleported behind his mom to show off._

_She pulled something out of the oven and turned to smile at him. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled back in a bun to keep it out of her eyes._

_"You're a little earlier than I expected!" she exclaimed. "You barely gave me enough time to finish baking." He spotted the dark cake in her hands, chocolate, he presumed. _

_"Sorry! I was just really excited." He decided not to tell her about the fight he just got in, figuring it would only worry her. _

_"I guess we can decorate together...although I was hoping to have it ready for you when you got home." She set it down on the table in the other room and moved to a cabinet to grab materials_._ Ky sat himself down, the aroma of the cake filling his nostrils. He couldn't help but reach over and pick a piece off._

_"Hey, pick at it again, and it's off with your head!" She moved hed finger across her throat and make a cutting sound as she sat down next to him. They spent the next ten minutes decorating the cake. The slathered icing on it so it appeared half black and half white. After outlining it with whipped cream, his mother pulled out a clear bottle with a dark orange liquid. Instead of putting it on the cake, she popped open the cap and poured some of it in her mouth. It dripped slowly out of the nozzle and some of it stuck to the side of the bottle. She licked her lips, ignoring a string of it dripping down her chin._

_"What is that stuff?" he asked. _

_She gave him a questioning look. "It's caramel." Noticing his confused expression, she added, "You've lived under my roof for seven thousand years, and you've NEVER had caramel?" He shook his head as she fell back in her chair. "Wow. I'm a horrible mother." She handed him the bottle. _

_He wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but he couldn't have guessed how good caramel could taste. The sugary substance rolled slowly off his taste buds and down his throat. "Jeez mom, you were holding out on me!" he practically yelled._

_"I'm glad you like it. Otherwise you couldn't be my son," she said. They both laughed, then went on to the final step of decorating. His mother wrote 'Happy 7,000 birthday, Ky!' with the caramel in big, blocky letters and numbers. Angels usually only celebrated their birthdays every thousand years, so it felt like forever since he'd had cake. Sure enough, it was delicious._

* * *

Ky awoke with a face-full of floor. He groaned. The one time he actually had a _good _memory, it ended with a burst of pain. He sat up, trying to remember the events of last night after Ahri had defeated those soldiers.

Cody and Ahri had returned with the unconscious captives, they stored their armor and took them as prisoners, Ahri made some kind of cruel joke about how weak they were and teleported back to the Institute of War despite how late it was, and Ky fell asleep on the couch in his office.

He got up, instinctively reaching for his swords sitting on the desk. His hands met a small plastic object instead. After staring at the object in his hand for a few seconds, he recognized it as Ahri's cellphone. She had left it there last night with a number written down next to it, although he had forgotten who she said it was for. It was so bizarre to be using a cellphone for the first time, something so commonly used nowadays. It really showed how much his time in the dark left him behind on technology.

The phone didn't have a keypad, just a touch screen, which confused the hell out of him at first. It took him awhile before he finally found out how to call the number. It rang a few times before he heard a voice on the other end.

"Ahri?" a female voice asked. It took him a few moments to remember who it belonged to.

"Lux, right?" he asked.

"Uh...yeah." She didn't bother to try and hide her confusion. "Who is this?"

"Oh, sorry. It's Ky. Ahri left her phone up here..."

There was a brief pause, followed by; "Wow. You get GOOD reception in the angel world."

Her comment made him crack a smile. "Yeah, I guess. I honestly don't even remember why Ahri left her phone for me to call you..."

"Speaking of Ahri...you should probably get back down here. Now."

His smile vanished quicker than he did. He was already sprinting through the kitchen. "Why, what's going on?!"

"Relax!" she yelled, followed by light laughter. "No one's hanging over a pit of spikes or anything. Champions just aren't allowed to leave without permission. He chewed out Ahri the second she got back last night, and he's probably even more pissed off at you."

"On my way." He jumped over a group of angels struggling to carry a large crate, nearly knocking it over.

"Kay. Call me if you...I dunno, get lost or something?" She hung up. Ky pocketed the phone, still sprinting towards the exit. Just before he passed into the tunnel, a figure cut him off.

"Move it, Cody!" Cody didn't budge from the opening.

"I'm going with you!" he blurted out.

Ky rolled his eyes. "I'm not in the mood to argue. Stand aside."

"C'mon, I already asked Garmond to watch over things here while we were gone!" His expression turned serious as he saw Ky's look of disapproval. "Look dude, I know you're worried about me. That's the real reason you wanted me to stay behind, right? 'Cause I can't use magic?" Ky stayed silent. Cody ventured a few steps towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Ky, we've been through everything together. Ever since we were little kids. We always talked about visiting the surface together. We're a team!" He clenched his fist as he said the last part. "Besides, you know I can handle myself. And even if i can't, I got this meat-head of a bodyguard to protect me," he finished, patting Ky's shoulder.

He couldn't help but smile. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Cody," he began. "But you can tag along if you'd like." Cody held out his hand for a fist bump, which Ky half-heartedly returned. "You're probably safer down there than you are up here, honestly," he added, more so to reassure himself rather than Cody.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Cody started down the tunnel. "You seemed like you were in hurry." Ky nodded, following his friend towards certain doom.

* * *

It wasn't so much the idea of the having Cody on the surface that worried Ky. As long as they stayed at the Institute of War, there were pretty much no dangers to threaten them. What made him nervous was actually getting out of Cael unnoticed. His first time escaping hadn't been so hard. Kayle's defenses were unprepared, and he never once had to do anything stealthy. But now, soldiers and officers patrolled the streets in packs, like dogs hunting down rabbits..that were shaped like angels. And whose black wing was as obvious as a pack dogs chasing a rabbit.

He'd used his magic to get him and Ahri safely to his hideout after dark, and even THEN they got caught once. But now, the streets were full of life, people walking or flying every which way to get to their destinations.

It was a slow process. Ky constantly turned both he and Cody into shadows, which he could only do for so long before they were immediately thrust out of the ground or wall and back into the open. After doing so ten or so times, he was already quickly tiring, stopping anywhere he could to recover. Neither of them spoke a word, not wanting to risk being discovered.

Eventually, they neared the very edge of the city in the sky, diving off before anyone had a chance to see them. He had no doubt then sky patrol would notice them, but they should've been safe by now. Sure enough, they were spotted just as entered the thick layer of clouds surrounding Cael. No one tried to pursue them.

"Phew. Glad that's over." Cody called over the sound of the gushing wind. "I swear I haven't taken a single breath since we got out of the sewer."

Ky shot him a smile. "Weird. You stopped taking breaths after we got OUT of the sewer. Sounds a little backwards to me."

Cody rolled his eyes. "You know how to get to the Institute of War from here?"

"Positive." He dropped into a steady glide, tilted at just the right angle so they'd land right outside the outer walls of the institute. He could already begin to see the outline of the massive complex till 11,000 feet above it. Ky glanced over at his friend, not surprised to see the anxious look in his eyes. Cody definitely didn't try to hide his excitement. He could barely fly in a straight line. "Jeez Cody, try not to piss yourself."

"...The hell are you talking about?" Confusion spread across both their faces. Then Ky remembered.

"Oh. Nothing." His eyes fell involuntarily fell on Cody's scarred wing. It always amazed him how Cody could manage to keep himself in the air. The cut ran through almost the whole length of it. It had happened so long ago, but the reddish flesh still protruded in some places where there should have been feathers. Gods, remembering the events of that day almost made him want to just...stop flying. To plummet like a corpse to the ground with no attempts to catch himself.

No. He couldn't look back. Not now. Not until his mission was complete. The dreams he had been having recently worried him. Reliving the events of his life wasn't something he was willing to do. If it came to avoiding sleep...then he would.

They glided in uninterrupted silence for several minutes, until, finally, they landed outside the Institute of War. A few heads turned their way, but otherwise no one payed them much mind. Ky got deja vu from the first time he came down here.

Ky gestured to the area around them. "Impressive, huh?" he said sarcastically.

Cody gaped at the seemingly endless plains spread out in front of them, not even glancing at the institute. "I've never seen so much land..." His voice trailed off.

Ky sighed. "You always were easily impressed," he muttered under his breath. It took him awhile to tear Cody's eyes away from the absolutely nothing that lay there, and even longer to get him inside the Institute. People crowded around the entrance like tourists going to see the world's largest ball of string exhibit; very bored.

It took a lot of perserverance, but they eventually made it inside. As if on cue, Vayl strode in front of them, although the Dewmals were nowhere in sight. He didn't seem nearly as angry as Lux had told him. If anything, he seemed calmer than usually.

"Ah, Ky. It is good to see you again." His voice was cheerful and upbeat.

"Someone slept well," Ky whispered to Cody.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, sir," Ky recovered. "Just glad to see you in a good mood."

"Oh, I'm just excited for the tournament coming up. It's less than two weeks away, you know."

Ky nodded. "I heard you called Ahri out on leaving the Institute without your permission," he remarked. "I hope you didn't punish her or anything. It was really my idea to leav-"

"Don't you worry about," Vayl interrupted. "I just warned her not to have it happen again. I'm surprised she didn't tell you about the rule sooner. She's not normally one to disobey rules. You must have had quite the impact on her."

"Um...thanks?" Ky half asked.

"At any rate, make sure you sign out at the exit before you leave." Ky nodded as Vayl's eyes fell on Cody. "A friend, I presume?"

"Oh, yeah." Cody had seemed to think he would never be acknowledged. "I'm Cody." He held out his fist to Vayl. He stared at it form a moment before bumping it with his own.

"Drake Vayl. It's, um, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Cody face palmed. "Sorry! I've been down under for awhile. Forgot all my manners." He forced a laughed, which Vayl joined in on.

"It's quite alright. I deal with informalities daily around here. Half the champions behave worse than untrained pets."

"Aw, that sucks," Cody added. "Anyways, do you mind if I take a look around?" It's my first time on the surface."

"Really? Well don't let me waste your time, feel free to explore," Vayl insisted. "I believe I last saw Ahri by the pool if you want to talk to her, Ky."

Ky tried to keep from looking surprised. "Huh. I didn't even know there WAS a pool here."

"It's about halfway between the champion quarter and the living districts in the north. There should be a sign pointing to it," Vayl informed them, waving his hands in its general direction.

Ky took off flying with Cody following right behind him. "Thanks!" He called back. The air felt much crisper than it had a few moments ago. Light pierced the clouds for the first time that day. Normally he would have appreciated the change in weather, but it was hot enough as it was without the sunlight. Sweat had already begun dripping down his forehead.

"Hey, Ky." He glanced over at Cody.

"What's up?"

"What do you think of that Vayl guy?" He asked. His voice sounded really unsure of itself.

Ky shrugged. "I think he's fine." A look of concern forming on both their faces.

"I dunno...there's just, something about him I don't like." There was a moment of silence besides the slight breeze. "It's definitely those eyes," he declared.

Ky nodded, then turned to narrowly avoid slamming into a tree. "I know the feeling. It feels like he's studying you, right? Like he's learning every single detail about you?"

"Yeah, but..." Ky thought Cody fell behind or something as his voice drifted off.

"What?" No response.

"I-it's nothing," Cody assured him. He didn't sound too convinced.

"Well if nothing keeps bothering you, lemme know, kay?"

"Yeah. Totally." Ky let it drop when he noticed the sign pointing them towards the pool.

They landed right next to the light blue water, startling a couple of young summoners who were enjoying each others' faces. Ky figured they could've found this place without directions, just because of how huge it was. The pool stretched for what seemed like miles in an L shape, cutting across the tiled ground. Oak trees climbed out of patches of soil that broke up the tile pattern in several places. They provided shade for the hundreds of people relaxing by the pool side in fully furbished chairs. A wooden deck ran along the perimeter of the area just off the tile, with a few openings for the exit and some changing rooms.

"Gods, Ky. This is where you're living now?" Cody asked in a mocking tone. "And you thought you would just leave me in the sewer?"

"Hey, I didn't even know this _existed_ until today," he countered. "Although that gets me thinking..." he looked off into the sky.

"Yeah, that cloud _is _really pretty," Cody joked.

Ky gave him a playful shove. "Not what I meant, smart-ass. I was thinking about moving our operation down here."

Cody actually had a thoughtful look on his face for once. "You know, that wouldn't be such a bad idea." He began counting off the reasons on his fingers. "We'd be way safer down here, it doesn't smell HALF as bad," he added with a smile. "And we wouldn't have to catapault people up to Cael whenever they wanted to join up with us." He gave Ky a thumbs up. "I'm game."

"I'll discuss it with Vayl later. For now, lets go meet up with Ahri. I gotta give her her cellphone back." They found her a little ways down the long side of the L laying on a chair completely washed over by sunlight. She seemed to be the only person not seeking shade behind a tree.

"Yo, Ahrone!" Cody called before Ky could say anything. She looked up and took off her sunglasses to locate the source of the call, smiling when her eyes fell on them.

"Who the hell is 'Ahrone'?" She yelled back, although she didn't sound angry about it. Her hair fell straight back behind her shoulders and ended just below her shoulder blades. She wore a rather revealing cherry red bikini and a purple bracelet dangled from her wrist. Ky locked eyes with her before he allowed them to drift down her body.

"How come you didn't tell me there was a giant gods damn pool here?" Ky questioned.

"I didn't?" She looked genuinely confused. "Huh. I guess I sorta left that part out."

He crossed his arms. "No kidding."

"It's cool to see Ky brought you along to, Codester."

Cody's face fell. "Codester? That's it?"

Ahri shrugged. "Hey, if you're gonna come up with a terrible nickname for me, I'm gonna do the same to you."

"Fair enough."

"_Anyway_," Ky cut in. He fished around in his pocket and pulled out Ahri's phone.

"Here."

'Oh, thanks." She dropped it into a bag sitting beside her and pulled out a lollipop. "Lux told me you called."

"Why did you leave your phone again?" he asked.

"Just in case you guys got attacked or something." She pointed to her head. "I'm always one step ahead of the pack, Kiwi."

"Did you actually just call me Kiwi? 'Cause I can gladly leave you stranded on Cael."

Her lips wrapped around the lollipop. "Whatever. I'm sure I could find a way down, Kiwi." Ky felt his face grow hot, although he wasn't sure if it was from anger or the heat.

"Welp, I'll see ya guys later," Cody interrupted, already walking away.

"Where are you going?" Ky called.

"Anywhere!" Cody was already about to take off.

"Alright, just don't leave the Institute, kay?"

"Sure thing, gramps!" Cody disappeared into the air.

"Hey, can you swim with those things?" Ahri asked, gesturing to his wings.

Ky crossed his arms. "I'm an angel, not a chicken." He flexed his wings a few times. "These guys actually work pretty well underwater."

"Nice. How about a swimsuit? Do you have one?"

"Nope." He put on an exaggerated thoughtful face. "I guess could always make one. I think fox fur would work well."

"Now that you mention it, I need a new coat," she said coldly. "Maybe angel feathers would do." He was actually worried he pissed her off for a second, but she laughed immediately after. "Seriously though, I could buy you one if you want. I don't know exactly how much money you make with your day job."

He shrugged. "I'm pretty much broke, yeah. Although I don't need you to buy me anything."

"Oh come on, I just wanna swim with you." She pulled her lollipop out of her mouth and gave him puppy-dog eyes. "Please? I promise it'll be cheap and shitty."

"Fine," he sighed. He allowed her to lead him to a small shop on the deck. "Hey, what flavor is that, anyways?"

Ahri pulled her lollipop out of her mouth and clicked her tongue. "Caramel, I think."

"I freaking love caramel," he said in a mock-monotone voice.

"Really? Me too!" She rummaged through her bag and pulled out another lollipop. "You want one?"

"Sure. Thanks." He grabbed it the instant she threw it in the air, tearing off the covering and biting off the top half of it. It certainly wasn't as good as he'd hoped, but caramel was caramel.

"Jeez. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to suck on it first, dude," she laughed.

A gush of cool air caught him off guard as they entered they shop. He'd almost forgot what cold air felt like when it wasn't aquainted with the stench of the sewer. Ahri picked out a pair of swimtrunks for him while they're lollipop supply quickly deplenished between the two of them. He finally agreed on a jet black pair that did a decent job of blending in. As if he ever could.

Ahri was the first to leave, stopping at the door to call back to him. "Hurry up Ky, we're burning sunlight!"

"It's 'burning daylight...'" he corrected. He stepped out behind her carrying his robe and swords in front of him. Gods, it felt so wierd to wear a swimsuit again. It had been milennia since the last time he'd taken a dip.

"Not with that attitude it isn't!" she yelled.

"What?" She grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards the pool side without a response. He managed to throw his stuff over to Ahri's chair before she shoved him into the water.

The pool felt ice cold compared to the unbearable heat. Or maybe it was just kept ridiculously cold. Goosebumps plotted along his arms and legs as water rushed up his nose and into his eyes, which he slammed shut. He pushed himself towards the surface the second his feet met the tiled ground, gasping as his head came up as if he'd been underwater for days. The tops of his wings poked out of the water as well. His white feathers glistened in the sunlight. Luckily, they didn't absorb the water and weigh him down.

Ahri gracefully flipped in the air and dove in beside him, hardly causing a single splash. A smirk spread across her face when she surfaced. "You sure you can swim, Kiwi?"

He grabbed for the edge of the pool. "First of all, don't call me that." He brushed his now wet and matted hair out of his face. "Second of all, I haven't swam in centuries. Give me a break." He hoped he didn't sound too defensive.

She dove underwater and came back up next to him, trailing her hand on the wall. Letters and numbers written along the side reading '7 feet.' "I really need a pair of goggles..." she said absent mindedly. Her ears dropped slightly from the water caught in their fur. "Well, you're not gonna get any better just hanging there!" Next thing he knew, she grabbed his arm and yanked him back under.

He felt Ahri tug on his wrist and pull him off the wall. He dared to open his eyes long enough to get a good look around. His vision was blurred and he could feel them stinging a bit, but it was worth it. Almost no one occupied the giantic pool, which was odd considering how hot the day was. His eyes met Ahri's wavering form. She opened her eyes as well, granting him a wide grin when she looked at him. Half a second later, she let go of his arm and started swimming away. Her tails clumped together, giving the illusion of her having just one, brushing his face and tickling his nose. He fell for the taunt, darting after her.

It took him a moment, and a few trips back to the surface, but he got the hang of it after awhile. His wings cut through the water like razor blades before long. Finally, he caught up to Ahri and grabbed her tail, dragging her towards him so they were face to face. After a moment of confusion, she smiled and pointed up, singaling that she needed air. Next thing he knew, he and Ahri sat on he edge of the pool, panting slightly from the swim.

As much as he'd tried to ignore it, he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was. It was about noon now, the sun hanging directly overhead. No matter what angle the light hit from, her golden eyes glowed brighter. She was skinny, but certainly not weak. Lean muscled showed all over her body. For just a moment, he allowed his eyes to fall upon her chest. "Hey, my eyes are up here, bro." He tore his eyes away, a blush already forming on his face. He couldn't help but smile.

"Heh. Sorry."

"It's fine," she sighed, falling back on her tails.

"It sounds a little less than fine..."

"No, really. It's fine." She put on a smile that seemed less than convincing. "It's just that..." She trailed off.

"What?" he asked after a few seconds.

"It's nice to meet a guy who actually cares more about me than my tits," she blurted. "The only other guy who doesn't look at me like that is Ezreal. So when you start doing it..." Her voice was really flustered.

"I get it." His voice almost stammered, but not quite. "Trust me Ahri, I'm not like that. I like you for you." He smirked at her. "The fact that you're pretty is just a bonus."

"Are you hitting on me?" she asked.

"What?! No, that's not..." He was cut off by her laughter.

"I appreciate the compliment," she assured him. "I guess I just wish sometimes that I wasn't pretty. Like if I still had the face of a fox." They both smiled at the thought.

"Eh. You'd still be prettier than at least half the girls in Valoran." She giggled at that and sat back up, a serious expression overtaking her face.

"Hey, this might not be a good time, but I wanted to ask you about something."

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

She hesitated before asking, "That woman. In the photo, back on Cael. Was that your sister?"

Ky couldn't help but smile. It helped to ease the pain. "My mother actually," he whispered. Nice job ruining the mood, he wanted to say.

"Oh...wow." A look of sorrow spread across her face. "I'm sorry if I upset you," she apologized in advanced. "It was just...really bothering me, and-"

"Ahri!" he interrupted. "Please, just drop it." It was impossible to hide the anger in his voice.

Ahri's ears drooped in sadness and embarassment. They sat in silence for a few mintues. Eventually, she reached out to grab his hand. He didn't try to stop her.

"She was beautiful." Was all she said. Meaningless words, but he could hear the comfort behind them. It was as if she shared his pain.

"Thanks." After what felt like hours of awkward silence, he decided to change the subject. "...So, I was planning on moving my organization down from Cael to here."

Ahri cleared her throat. "Sounds like a good idea. Although I have no idea where you plan to put all those angels. Institutes pretty crowded," she remarked.

"There were tons of open buildings over in the capitol district," he reminded her.

"It's not that simple!" she yelled. "We champions get a free pass and a little pay because we work here. So unless there are a thousand job openings, they can't all stay here."

"I...I guess you're right," he half-heartedly agreed. "That's not going to stop me from talking to Vayl about it."

"Go right ahead," she insisted. "Sorry, do I sound a little mad?"

"Sounds closer to bat-shit crazy to me."

"You know what I meant..." she laughed. "I get worked up too easily…" Her ears suddenly perked up. "Crap, I have a Summoner's Rift match scheduled in a few minutes!" She jumped up and raced over to grab her bag from their chair.

"I'll come watch you." He insisted, getting up as well. "I little violence should clear my head."

"Do you even know where to go?" she asked, racing to a changing booth.

"North end, right?" he guessed. He grabbed his stuff and followed her towards the booths.

"Yep!" Not even ten seconds later, she burst out of the stall wearing her red and white kimono and started sprinting away on all fours. "Meet me there kay?" she called, not waiting for a response.

"I'll be there!" he yelled back, although he had no idea if he heard her.


	11. Chapter 11: Summoner's Rift

Ky rushed back to his dorm to drop of the swimsuit Ahri bought for him, then immediately flew over to the northern most section of the Institute of War. According to Ahri, that was where summoners and champions went right before a Summoner's Rift match. He'd only ever seen a few full matches, and he still didn't fully understand how they worked. From what he remembered, two teams of five would be teleported to a large area far away from the Institute. The champions, such as Ahri, would form mental links with summoners, who don't leave the institute, and they would attempt to communicate and use teamwork to win matches. It was almost like a death match, except you'd always be revived if you die, and the final objective was to destroy the enemy nexus, a large crystal with strange magical properties.

He always wondered why death was only an illusion in certain places, and not across all of Valoran. Maybe he'd ask about that another time.

Ky decided that the giant crowd of people gathered around two pools of light, one red and one blue, was his destination. He could vaguely make out the forms of Ahri, Lux, and Ezreal sitting next to each other in the front row of a ton of stone benches with an open spot besides them. He figured it would be fun to make a bit of an entrance, dive-bombing towards the bench at breakneck speeds, then phasing into the bench at the last second as a shadow. He reappeared next to Ez with one leg crossed over the other and his arms outstretched over the back of the bench.

"Hey," he said.

He was pretty sure Ahri _might _have waved her hand to acknowledge him before she went back to talking with Lux.

Ky raised an eyebrow. "Um...so I didn't surprise you, then?"

This time, Ahri looked over at him and pointed to her ears. "I picked up the sound of you falling through the air way before you landed."

"You ain't slick!" Ez laughed.

Ky slumped back in his chair. "Dammit," he cursed himself.

A few minutes went by with little activity aside from he and Ez chatting about magic. How could Ahri have possibly been in a hurry for this? She must've had at least fifteen minutes to spare before anything interesting actually happened. After awhile, Ky took note of the eyes staring at him. He glanced behind him, noticing for the first time that literally every champion and probably almost every summoner at the Institute had come to watch this. He spotted several of the void creatures under constant restraint, such as the beast he'd fought only the day before, Cho'Gath. Those who were restrained just seemed uninterested, although the others watched him warily. Was there something going on that he didn't know about? Ky shrugged it off and turned back around.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Vayl walked up in front of the crowd and signaled for the chatter to stop. He stood on top of a long elevated slab of the same smooth stone the benches were carved from. The pools of light Ky had noticed before rested behind Vayl, although there was still no sign of the Dewmal twins. The red-heads had been mysteriously absent from Vayl's side lately.

"Welcome, everyone, to today's Summoner's Rift match. It'll be a special one, I can assure you of that."

"Huh. Wonder what's gonna be special about it," Ahri wondered aloud. "Getting tired of killing the same hundred and twenty two people all the time." She put her finger on her chin as if in thought. "Actually, make that hundred and twenty. No one ever picks Urgot or Yorick." A bit of laughter followed this.

"Anyways," Vayl continued, shooting her a brief glare. "I'd like to call our competing summoners and champions to the...stage, I suppose." He pulled out a small scroll and unraveled it. "On the red team, we have Ashe the Frost Archer, accompanied by summoner Jackson, Darius the hand of Noxus and his summoner..."

Ky tuned out the names of the summoners. As if they'd mean anything to him. What he did take note of were champions called up. Three more champions took their places on top of the swirling red light, Sona, Xerath, and Nautilus, each receiving their own applause. Overall, they appeared to be a pretty strong team. Nautilus towered over everyone else in his full metal scuba suit and carried his gigantic anchor in only one hand. Xerath was made of pure arcane energy, blue bolts arching off his "body" and bothering his teammates. Sona strung her floating etwahl with one hand and straightened her long blue hair with he other. Ashe immediately began talking strategy with Darius, absentmindedly sharpening the tips of her arrows with a stone while Darius sharpened his axe not at all absentmindedly.

"And on the blue team..." Ky prepared himself to once again tune out the summoner names. "Lux...Ahri...Ezreal...and, Volibear!" The four of them made their way up to their respective pool of light, Ahri doing a couple flips to show off on her way over. Lux and Ezreal shied slightly away from Voli, a well over nine foot tall polar bear clad in armor who stood on up on his hind legs. The Institute had some really weird champions.

"Who's our fifth?" Ahri called from behind Volibear's massive form. It didn't really sound like a question to Ky based on how excited she sounded. To his surprise, Vayl looked straight at him.

"The fifth member of blue team is a new champion to the Institute, never before seen on the rift."

Ky's eyes widened, and he felt his jaw clench. "Gods dammit Vayl..." he muttered under his breath.

Sure enough, Vayl pointed directly at him. "Ky, the Shadow-Light Archangel!" Applause erupted around Ky from every direction. _Looks like everyone was in on this 'cept me, _he thought. He got up, trying not to act surprised by casually brushing his hair out of his face and walking slowly up to his spot besides Ahri.

"The hell is going on?!" he whispered angrily to her. "And what's with the "Shadow-Light Archangel crap?!"

She gave him a playful smile. "It's tradition to have the newest champion compete in their first Summoner's Rift match without really being trained for it. Oh, and I have no idea with the shadow light thing, but it sounds pretty cool!"

"That's bullshit," he said plainly.

"Hey, don't look at me. I wanted to tell you," she insisted.

"Suuuuuuure you did."

"Don't worry," she winked. "I'll help you out."

"I don't even know what I'll be able to DO on the Rift...they restrict your powers, don't they?" he asked.

"Yeah. They base it off the moves you used in your duels yesterday."

Ky face palmed. "If I'd known that, I would've tried a little harder..."

"Ky? Did you hear me?" Vayl asked, then pointed to the right. "You'll be working with summoner Liash."

Ky glanced over to see a group of five summoners standing nearby them, presumably the summoners for his team. A young girl sent a shaky wave his way. _Great,_ he thought. She couldn't have been older than sixteen, easily the youngest of the summoners on their team. The only one with her hood on, it looked like she was trying to hide beneath it. Long Blonde hair poured out the front of the hood, partially hiding her face.

"You're summoner Liash?" he called.

She nodded. "Y-yeah," she stammered.

"First time?"

"Um...I-I've been in a few matches, but..."

Ky sighed loudly. "Fantastic."

A look of hurt washed over her face. "Sorry..."

"Hey, it's fine," he assured her. "It's not your fault of anything." He shot her a smile. "Besides, I've never been one to lose a fight. We got this."

To his surprise, she returned his smile. "I-I'll do my best..."

The light beneath Ky's feet grew brighter, enveloping him and his team in the blue glow. Ky took one last look around him before he vanished into nothing.

* * *

Flashing blue lights nearly gave him a seizure before he reappeared, stumbling as he did so. His teammates slowly appeared around him in the same manner with slightly less complete confusion. What stuck out to him immediately was how different everything felt on the Rift. He felt some senses heighten and other senses worsen. He felt his magical energy faltering, then coursing through his whole body, then dying, then reigniting, like a yo-yo. And then the pain started.

His vision became blurred, and vibrations ran through his head like a jackhammer. He forced his eyes shut and covered his head with his hands, trying to block out the awful ringing in his ears. As he stepped back, his foot met with nothing but open air.

Just as he began to fall, a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist, yanking it from his eye and pulling him back onto solid ground. He waited a few more seconds for his head to clear before standing up.

"You okay?" Ahri asked.

"The hell just happened to me..." he groaned, trying to take in his surroundings without throwing up.

They stood on a slightly elevated stone surface with curved markings cut into it. A small set of steps lead onto a more expansive mixture of grass, moss, and stone. Ky looked behind him and nearly gaped at a massive statue sculpted into a wall. It depicted a knight comprised mainly of marble and copper. The knight held a shield in his right hand and some kind of hammer in his left with a glowing blue crystal on the tip. It stood at attention as if protecting something. Perhaps it had to do with the seven foot chasm spread before it and the platform Ky was standing on.

"Massive headache, ringing in your ears, lost control over your senses, right?" Ahri interrupted.

"So that's a normal occurrence?" he asked.

"Yeah. It happens to everyone their first time on the rift."

_The rift. _The words stuck out to him now more than ever. Here he was. Standing in the place where he'd seen several hundred battles between some of the most skilled fighters in the world. Always hoping that he'd be among them. Now here he was.

"Hey, are you listening?" Ahri called.

"Huh?"

"Like I was saying," she began, rolling her eyes. "Summoner's Rift has the highest concentration of magical energy in the entirety of Valoran. Hell, probably the entire world. The brain-splitting headache you just went through was you adjusting to it. If you thought we could kick ass before, our magic would be twice as powerful here."

"...And our magic's _weaker_ because?"

"Shh, I was pausing for dramatic effect!" she complained. "Anyways, you see that big gem hovering over there?" She pointed behind her to a bright blue crystal almost identical to the one the statue was holding aside from it being much larger. It bobbed up and down over a circular pit walled off with yet more stone.

"It's a nexus crystal, right?"

"Stop knowing things! You're killing my explanation!" Ahri cleared her throat. "Anyways, yes, that's a nexus crystal. I'm sure you _also _know they're used to inhibit magic energy."

Ky scratched the back of his head. "Actually, no. I just thought they were for decoration."

Ahri sighed. "Well, they're not. The smaller ones are literally just called _inhibitors. _I'd figure you'd make the connection, or ya know, have read about it, like you're so fond of doing." Her tone was more playful than annoyed.

"I told you, that wasn't my main focus when I studied..."

"Yeah, whatever," she cut him off. "Bottom line is, what you'll be able to do is heavily restricted. You won't even be able to fly."

"...The hell does that work?"

"_Thirty seconds until minions spawn," _boomed a female voice from seemingly nowhere, shaking nearby trees.

"Jeez, that's loud!"

"You get used to that too," Ahri assured him. "That's the announcer, unless you randomly decided to study about that, too. And I'll explain more later!" She called over her shoulder as she sprinted down the steps and out straight ahead past the nexus crystal. Her footsteps barely made a sound as she disappeared from view. "Remember to buy items!"

"What!?" he yelled back, although he doubted she heard him.

"I believe she was talking about these," a squeaky voice suggested. Ky noticed the two-legged mouse creature about half his height sitting atop of the gigantic yak for the first time. Or at least, it kinda resembled a yak with it's tangled brown fur and sharp horns. However, the ten foot long meaty tail curled around the front of it's body suggested it was something else.

The mouse hopped off the creatures back and set his arms over a small table with a few books and weapons strung about it. He offered a glowing purple blade out to Ky. "That'll be four hundred and forty gold, please."

"So...you're the shopkeeper then?" Ky ventured.

"No, I'm the giant fuzz ball carrying the shopkeeper around. HE'S the shopkeeper," the mouse stated sarcastically, pointing to the yak-like beast.

"Well, aren't you charming, pipsqueak" Ky retorted. The yak, or whatever it was, grunted in agreement.

"That's Vermillion, to you. You want to buy something or what? I don't get paid to sit around here all day and chat with the guy who's about to be late to lane."

"I would if I had any gold, mousey."

"I'm a yordle, not a mouse!" Vermillion claimed, almost hoping up and down in anger. "And check your pockets, moron. You might find something."

Sure enough, after looting around in his pocket for a moment, Ky found several gold pieces each with a value displayed on the back. They felt weightless, as if they weren't real at all. "This...is gonna take some getting used to." Ky exchanged all the gold for the blade and a "health potion," which would supposedly heal some of the wounds he received if he drank it. Normally he would heal pretty quickly on his own, but something told him that wouldn't work the same way either. As he grabbed the sword, he felt a surge of power run through him, almost like a sugar rush on steroids. After a few moments, the blade's form shimmered before it disappeared completely, although he could still feel the energy it radiated.

_"Minions have spawned!" _the voice boomed again.

"That's your cue, unless you'd like to keep chatting," Vermillion said.

"Believe me, I'd rather not." Ky spun around and began sprinting down the steps. To his pleasant surprise, he was able to fly a few feet off the ground, although some force kept him from going any higher. He felt slower and heavier as well, but it still beat walking.

Three separate paths branched off from his team's base. Each one was a wide dirt path with patches of grass here and there, and they more or less appeared identical.

_"We're top lane. Go to the one on the left." _Ky froze. The voice wasn't the same as the announcers. He was pretty sure it was coming from inside his own head. _"You okay?" _it asked.

Ky put his index finger against the side of his head. Where did he recognize that voice?

"Liash, is that you?" he said aloud. No response. "_Liash?" _he thought.

_"You can call me Melissa. But yeah, it's me." _Again, the voice echoed inside his head. She didn't sound as nervous as she had before.

_"So...can anyone else hear us, or is it just you and me?" _he thought back to her.

It took her a second to respond. _"These messages can only be heard between us. I can talk to the summoners on my team out here, though." _

_"Got it. So, I'm heading top?" _

_"Well considering you didn't leash Volibear, that would be your next destination." _

_"You know I don't know what that means, right?" _

_"You will soon. Just go to your lane."  
_

He nodded in agreement, once again moving towards top lane.

_"Can you see me?" he asked._

_"Yep," _she answered. _"We summoner's actually have vision over most of the map. We're mostly just supposed to keep track of everything. You champions get to do the dirty work." _

_"Fine by me. I've always preferred the front lines, anyway." _He made his way up the lane, passing three more statues similar to the one back in his base. They were all a bit smaller and spread out along the path. Each one held yet another nexus crystal.

_"You know what those towers do?" _Melissa asked.

_"They shoot the other team when they come near it, right?" _

_"Uh huh. Try to defend them as best you can, and remember to destroy the enemies towers as you make your way up the lane."  
_

_"You make it sound easy," _

_"Believe me, it's not." _The uneasiness had returned to her voice.

_"Remember, we got this," _he assured her, although he was more so trying to convince himself he wouldn't fail.

He reached the midway point of the top lane, where his side of the rift met the other teams'. There he found a...pretty pathetic sight, actually.

Tiny creatures even shorter than Vermillion dressed in either a blue or red robe were fighting each other with some of the wimpiest attacks he'd ever seen. The blue cloaked ones fought with either a mace and shield or stood in the back line with staffs and shot tiny bolts of blue magic. The red ones wielded axes instead of maces and shot red magic, respectively. There was no strategy to their attacks or there fighting style it seemed. They just threw themselves at each other until they died, then sank into the ground as if it were made of quicksand.

Ky couldn't help but laugh at the adorably inept soldiers. He'd seen them before when watching Summoner's Rift matches, but he never knew they were this pathetic.

_"I see you've taken a liking to the minions?" _noted Melissa.

_"They're hilarious." _

_"The blue ones are on your side by the way. Killing the red ones gets you more gold for items." _

_"Aw, I can't help but feel bad for them," _he said half sarcastically.

_"They revive when they die, don't worry about it."  
_

Ky walked up to the remaining minions with more blue ones following up behind him. Both groups seem to completely ignore him in favor of attacking the other, even the red ones whom he was supposed to kill. Just as he was about to start attacking, a figure stepped out of a nearby bush and swung their weapon at him. Ky leaped back just in time, narrowly avoiding the tip of the axe by only a few millimeters.

"Ah, why did I have to be put in a lane against the new champion?" asked a cruel gravelly voice. Darius fully stepped out of the bush, shaking the blood of one of Ky's minions from his axe. He stood at least a full foot above Ky and wore full steel armor black as ash and a blood red cape. His broad shoulders and huge biceps made Ky cringe when thinking of getting hit with that axe. "I will admit, your skills in battle did seem vaguely impressive in the arena." A dark look filled his eyes. "Still, you lack the strength to defeat me."

Ky crossed his arms, daring a step closer to Darius. "Please. Anyone with true strength wouldn't sneak up on a rookie their first time in battle, coward."

"Coward?!" Darius rushed at him and spun his axe around him, nearly taking off Ky's head. "What is brute strength without strategy? Power without wisdom? Even we Noxians who value strength more than anything know this!"

Ky tried to shoot out a dark magic tendril and yank Darius's axe away, but nothing happened. "Son of a..."

His hesitation earned him a shoulder to his chest. The metal from Darius's armor dug into his skin before sending him flying into a wall, almost crushing his wings.

"Now, witness true strength, angel."

Ky slid of the wall and narrowed his eyes. "It's ARCH-angel," he said through clenched teeth. He pulled out his swords and ran at Darius head-on. Darius swept his axe at Ky's feet, which he jumped over. He took advantage of the opportunity, getting in close with his swords and slashing at Darius's neck. Darius more or less sidestepped the swing as the swords clashed against his thick armor, retaliating with a swing aimed directly at Ky's head. Ky ducked under the swing, feeling the axe cut through his hair, and teleported behind Darius. It certainly didn't catch the warrior off guard as he immediately spun around with his axe, slicing through Ky's robe and across his chest.

He groaned in agony, backing away from Darius's advancing slashes, sparring a moment to glance down at the gash. Blood poured down his robe and stained most of the front. More importantly, it hurt like all hell.

This wasn't right. Angels could usually tolerate much more pain than this. What should've been just a scratch could prove fatal if he didn't act quickly.

His foot caught on something as he stepped back, sending him stumbling onto the baked, rocky ground. A downward swing from Darius nearly took his leg off, cracking the earth with the force of the of the impact. Ky melted into the ground as a shadow and moved into thick nearby bush, buying himself a few seconds.

_"You really shouldn't have picked a fight this early..."_ he heard Melissa say.

"Gee, thanks for the tip!" he yelled, realizing she could hear his thoughts anyway.

A twig cracked nearby. Ky dove out of the bush just as Darius broke through the leaves with his axe. He rolled on the ground, feeling bits of rubble fall into his chest wound. As if the pain couldn't get any worse.

Turns out, it could. Darius bashed him on the head with the butt of his axe, nearly knocking Ky unconscious. He tried to stand, even though it felt like he was floating, but Darius delivered a heavy punch to his stomach. Ky coughed up blood, hopefully onto Darius's face, as his vision darkened around the edges. He vaguely felt himself being lifted off the ground by his neck. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't see. And that awful, awful ringing in his ears...

"You disappoint me, angel," Darius scoffed.

A rage unearthed itself from deep within Ky. A rage he'd been suppressing for millennia. The rage that fueled all his ambitions. The rage he felt when his mother was killed.

He wasn't on the rift anymore. He was back on Cael, in his hometown, surrounded by flames. Staring at the blood stained, unblinking corpse of his mother. Was this what it was like to die? To relive the worst moment in your life?

Ky was ripped back to reality as he was slammed onto the ground. He opened his eyes, seeing Darius jumping up above him, his axe held with both his hands behind his head, before bringing his axe back down towards Ky. But it never found its mark.

Ky could almost laugh at the look of confusion that fell over Darius's face as a barrier of light and dark magic enveloped Ky, blocking the axe in its tracks and sending sparks flying in all directions. Ky fired a pulse of dark magic forward, throwing Darius back a good 50 feet into a wall. He struggled to stand up, eventually getting back on his feet. His grip on his swords tightened in anger.

"I told you..." he spat at Darius, who was barely withing earshot. "It's ARCH-angel!" Ky disappeared just as Darius moved off the wall. He reappeared behind Darius and delivered several blows with his blades, slashing through Darius's armor and piercing his skin before teleporting to another side of him and repeating the process. He slashed Darius hundreds of times from all angles, teleporting and dashing around him again and again. Blood flew through the air like water from a fountain. When he was done, Darius was no more than a pile of flesh and bones shards. The announcer's voice shook the air once again. _"First Blood!"_

Ky panted from exhaustion and took a brief moment to congratulate himself before falling to his knees. He kinda forgot about the giant gash in his chest.

A pool of blue light formed around him. "_H-hold on, I'll get you back to the fountain!" _Melissa insisted. But he knew it was too late. He would bleed out before the recall spell finished.

His vision darkened around the edges. His brain felt like it was pounding against the side of his skull, trying to escape his head. He took one last shallow breath before collapsing to the ground.

The last thing he heard was a voice booming _"You have been slain!" _

_So this is what being dead feels like_, he thought. Ky actually felt better after he died. All the agonizing pain he'd felt only moments before had vanished, although his body remained where it was. He saw the Rift from what he could only assume was Melissa's view, an aerial perspective of the entire battlefield. He spotted Ahri in the middle of the map, squaring off against Xerath in her own lane. She dodged his lightning strikes while returning his blows with small blue fireballs and occasionally throwing out her orb of deception. As Xerath began backing off, Ahri went in for the kill, dashing towards him and charming him. A few more blasts of fire and another toss of her orb and his fragile electrical body imploded, earning Ky's team another kill.

He briefly noticed Volibear taking out small birdlike creatures in the jungle between mid lane and the bottom lane. They didn't pose a very major threat to the snow-white bear, who growled in pleasure upon killing them and received extra gold for doing so. Ezreal and Lux struggled in bot lane, keeping their distance from Sona and Ashe. They fired long-ranged projectiles and fell back whenever Sona came close enough to literally shoot music at them. Lux fired a thin ball of light out of her staff at Ashe, who dove out of the way and returned fire almost immediately with a volley of ice arrows. Ezreal surrounded himself in some kind of yellow energy before teleporting in front of Lux to take the majority of the arrows for her. Two of them found their mark in his right shoulder and left leg. He cried out in pain, but immediately yanked the arrows out and continued on as if nothing had happened.

_"I'm sorry, I-I couldn't get you back in time..."_ Ky heard Melissa say in his head, a tone of sorrow in her voice.

_"Don't sweat it, you literally couldn't have saved me back there,"_ he thought back. _"Besides, kill for a kill, right? Unless you were trying to keep me from dying the entire time. Which I'm pretty sure we both knew wasn't happening."_

_"I guess..."  
_

Another flash of light, and Ky found himself back in his base, next to the shop and the statue. His hands instinctively reached to his chest. Unbelievably, the giant gash that had cost him his life moments before had disappeared. He felt no pain anywhere in his entire body. Even the cut in his robe had been completely repaired.

"Incredible..." he said, nearly mesmerized. "If...if only this power existed everywhere..." he murmured. Just before his mind drifted to what could have been, Vermillion snapped his fingers in his face.

"Hey, pretty boy, get your head out of your ass. I get payed more if you win." Ky scowled at him before trading in his gold for more items.

Just as he was about to leave, Ahri teleported right next to him. He instinctively turned and fired a pulse of dark magic, but to his surprise, the blast passed right through her.

"Holy shit, calm down!" she yelled. "You almost gave me a heart attack..." She jokingly threw her orb at him, which passed through him to no affect. "In case you haven't noticed, we can't hurt each other when we're on the same team."

He smirked at her and lowered his guard. "Well isn't that a shame."

She stuck her tongue out at him before strutting back towards mid lane.

* * *

The next twenty minutes of the game were so agonizingly slow that Ky _wished _something would kill him again. Darius stomped back to lane twice as angry as before, but was much less aggressive, only coming close to kill minions or occasionally swing his axe at Ky, which usually missed. Maybe he was worried he'd lose another encounter, although Ky felt himself unable to perform his thousand-slashes-or-whatever attack for another three minutes. Even when he attempted to move in or dash around some minions trying to find the right angle to fire projectiles at Darius, the Noxian backed up to his tower. His summoner must have been holding him back or something.

All the while, Melissa tried to explain more of the basics of the Summoner's Rift matches, although it was pretty hard to pay any attention with so many minions to kill and axes flying at his face...okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but he still could keep track of anything she said.

_"Yo, Melissa?" _he began, cutting off during her explanation of warding.

_"Yeah?" _she asked.

_"Save it 'till after the game, kay?" _

_"Oh...um...sure, okay," _she replied. He sighed in relief before returning to his boredom.

He managed to destroy the first tower in his path after whacking at it for awhile when Darius left the lane. The ancient structure crumbled and exploded, blasting shards of crystals and stone in all directions. He phased into the ground to avoid them. What annoyed him the most about the change in his abilities on the rift, other than his inability to properly fly, was his lack of control over some of his skills. He was sucked out of the ground only a few seconds after entering it.

Just as he started to get the hang of it, things took a turn for the worse.

_"You've got two enemy champions headed up towards you!"_ warned Melissa, panic in her voice.

He instinctively tensed up. "_How much time I got? _

_"Like, five seconds!"_ Time seemed to slow as he considered his options. The way he saw it, he had three; stay and attempt to fight, which would almost certainly end in his death, run back towards his tower, but that was too far away, or...

Ky sheathed his swords and took off flying, well, more like hovering, towards the second enemy tower as fast as he could. The attacks of his enemy minions pelted him with little effect, although he knew that tower would pack quite a punch.

_"What are you doing!?"_ Melissa screeched.

_"Just trust me!"_ Darius and Nautilus appeared, each coming from two separate paths that cut into the lane from the jungle. They clearly hadn't expected him to run this way, giving him the opportunity he needed to escape.

He curved down another pathway further down the lane leading back into the jungle, cutting it just a little too close to close to the enemy tower. It glowed bright red before firing a huge bolt of energy. It collided with his right wing, sending him rolling onto the ground, but he hopped up sprinting and shrugging off the pain.

_"Melissa! Get Ahri's summoner to call her over here! Quick!"_ he thought.

_"I-I'm on it!"_ she promised.

Ky rounded past some rock-like creatures who payed him no mind and dove into thick brush nearby, grunting as he rolled over his injured wing. "Can't catch a break today..." He flattened himself against a wall and waited for the sound of approaching footsteps. Three paths branched off from the bush he hid in. One back the way he came, another to the east back towards his lane, no doubt cut off by now, and a third that cut south towards mid lane. Hopefully, he'd see Ahri coming up that way any second.

Which of course meant that the exact opposite would happen. Footsteps echoed behind him, as well as the slight buzzing sound of electricity from the front. Darius, Nautilus, and Xerath all converged on his position, each from a different path. Ky quietly pulled his swords out and slid farther into the brush.

_"Ahri's on her way." _Melissa assured him.

_"Little too late." _

A bolt of blue lightning shot through the bush, zapping his chest before he could even react. He was blasted out of the bush and landed on the cold, unforgiving ground. It was funny how the ground always felt colder and less forgiving after a nasty fall.

Saying the wind got knocked out of him was an understatement. It was more like it was ripped from his lungs and replaced by thousands of volts of electricity. His body convulsed sporadically for a few seconds. Luckily, he regained control just soon enough to roll out of the way of Darius's axe as the blade cut into the ground where his face had been milliseconds before.

He flipped back onto his feet and fired light and dark projectiles behind him as he sprinted down yet another curved pathway. _This place is like a maze, _he thought.

_"Go right!" _Melissa yelled in his mind. _"Ahri's almost there!"  
_

He teleported a few feet ahead to dodge another projectile from Xerath, a pulse of lighting lobbed over the wall. And since everything was already going his way, Nautilus appeared around the corner to cut him off. The titan slowly pulled his arm back and, with the creak of metal, hurled his anchor straight at Ky. He sank into the ground to avoid it, popping back up just in time to be hit with it anyways as Nautilus yanked he anchor back on its chain. It collided with his back and knocked him straight into the diver with a loud crack...presumably the sound of his ribs breaking.

His vision darkened around the edges as he stumbled away from Nautilus cupping a bloody nose. His chest felt like it imploded on itself. The ground rumbled beneath him as Nautilus pounded the ground with his foot, sending a shock-wave rippling towards Ky. Normally, he could've leapt or flew over it, but his injured wing and ribs prevented him from really doing anything to dodge it. So he decided to get creative.

He created a platform of light magic just in front of and above him and hopped on just in time for the shock-wave to pass below him. Nautilus reacted quickly and threw his anchor at Ky once again. Ky jumped, barely clearing the top of the anchor and ran forward, creating more platforms beneath his feet like a set of stairs. He kept moving until he was just above the titan's head and stabbed his blades through the metal scuba suit, hopefully killing him instantly.

Of course, it didn't. Nautilus grabbed Ky's waist and threw him so hard into the ground he probably made a crater. He coughed up blood, barely able to move, head spinning, ears ringing, and swords missing. He subconsciously submerged himself in the ground to avoid Nautilus stomping on him, although he knew he couldn't last much longer.

_Gods dammit Ahri, where are you? _

Footsteps behind him. Probably Darius coming to finish him off...no, the footsteps were too light. Suddenly, the announcer's voice boomed the words, "_An enemy has been slain!" _

Ky emerged from the ground as Nautilus walked right past him. A bright pink aura surrounded the Naut for a few seconds before blue flames slammed against the front of his suit. Ky painfully crawled to his feet with a few grunts, curling his non-broken wing in front of him to shield his eyes. The whole area was illuminated as Ahri dashed around Nautilus, dodging his anchor and anything else he swung at her while she fired more and more...well, fire, at him. The titan of the depths crumpled to his knees with the crash of metal as Ahri finished him off with one last nonchalant flick of her wrist. Her orb charged through the air and killed him the second it connected.

"Somebody page me?" she asked, her eyes connecting with Ky's. "Damn, dude, they messed you up."

"Well you came a little late..." he complained through ragged breaths.

"You could act a little grateful, since I just saved your _life_." Her face lit up in surprise. "Get down!" She ran up and shoved him out of the way of a condensed ball of electricity. The ball collided with her side, sending her into some kind of stasis. Xerath emerged from a bush charging a bolt of lightning above his head like he was balancing a jug of water. Ky teleported out of the way of it just as Xerath arched his back to fire.

Ky reappeared beside the arcane mage and stabbed through his electrical body. He sliced through Xerath multiple times to no effect. Electricity arced and sputtered around him as his skin burned. With one last grunt of effort, he stabbed the biggest piece of metal that held the abomination together. Xerath screamed, despite not having a mouth, as his 'body' imploded, leaving no remains except ashes charred ground.

Ky panted heavily, but his breaths came out shallow and uneven. Ahri regained control over her body, although the look she gave him told him there was little she could do to help.

For what felt like the millionth time, a pool of blue light circled around Ky's body. "I'm not gonna let you die this time!" Melissa promised.

He nodded, leaning against a wall for support. No way he was going to let himself die _after_ the fighting had ended again.

After what was one of the worst eight seconds of his life, Ky appeared back at his base with a loud bang. Immediately, he felt his wounds begin to heal. His bones fell back into place, his cuts closed, his burns cooled, and his robe was repaired, all in just a few seconds. He flexed his right wing just to make sure it wasn't still broken.

Ahri reappeared right next to him just in time for a face full of feathers.

"Blech," she swatted at his wing and stumbled backwards, spitting as she did so. "A little warning next time!? Your wing tastes _nothing _like chicken."

He smiled. "You haven't tried them with barbeque sauce." She gave him a wide-eyed stare. "We don't actually eat them, Ahrone," he said rolling his eyes.

"O-oh, sorry. Thought angels were cannibals for a second there."

"No time for chit-chat, ladies," called Vermillion. "Buy something or get back to your lanes."

Ahri glared at the over-sized rat, who payed her no mind, flipping through a magazine like a teenage girl. "Anyways," she began. "We're about to push down mid lane to finish the match, Ky, so grab your items and meet us there, kay?" She pushed past him without waiting for a response.

He tossed a few coins to Vermillion in exchange for a cool-looking sword with purple flames surrounding blade, then sprinted down the steps and towards mid lane. During their relatively short time on the Rift, the sun had begun it's trip towards the horizon, casting a light orange glow over the terrain. Next to the blue aura of the nexus crystals, the air looked bright enough to be neon. It was almost cheerful enough to make him forget he was on a battleground.

His whole team waited for him in the mid lane accompanied by at least twenty of their minions. They were mercilessly slaughtering the other team's minions, which he happily joined in on.

"Hey, Ezreal!" he called. Ez turned after shooting a minion with arcane energy.

"Yeah?"

"How'd bot lane go?" he asked, slashing through a red minion's torso.

Ez smirked at him. "Well, considering our team's up fifteen kills, and I have six of them, I'd say pretty well."

Ky raised an eyebrow. "We're up _fifteen _kills? The hell can you tell?"

"The Summoners keep tabs on the score," he explained.

"_Well_ that_ would've been good to know," _he thought to Melissa.

_"H-hey, you're the one who cut me off earlier!" _she countered.

_"Relax, I'm just messing with you." _Their team continued pushing down mid lane, eventually reaching the enemy base. It had almost the exact same design, same walls defending most of it aside from the lanes and the same turret placement. The only difference were the markings that ran along the cobblestone ground.

The enemy champions finally decided to show up after they destroyed the last mid lane turret. Nautilus, being the giant iron-clad diver he was, somehow snuck up behind them and threw his anchor at Ezreal's back. Ky spun around and watched as Ezreal was double-teamed by Nautilus and Darius, killed almost instantly as Darius leaped up and brought his axe down over Ez's head. He died before he got the chance to scream.

Lux called out his name and fired a bolt of light at the two, snaring them in place. Ky's entire team, including himself, jumped at the attackers, instantly killing both of them.

_"Double-kill!" _The announcer bellowed.

"Hey, your first double!" Ahri commented, completely unfazed by Darius's blood staining her skin.

"Did I get that? Ky asked.

"Yeah, nice!" Lux added.

Ky glanced up, spotting Ashe and Sona standing back a ways firing off arrows and...music, at Ky's team. "Yeah, it was nice...but I bet I could do better." He dashed forward and sank into the ground before they could spot him, coming up right behind Ashe. She reacted quickly, diving out of the way of his slash, then returning fire with ice tipped arrows. He blinked over her barrage of arrows, stabbing her through the chest. She let out something between a grunt and a scream as bright red blood oozed out of her mouth.

"_Triple kill!_" the announcer's voice rang.

Ky pulled his swords out of Ashe's corpse and moved towards the center of the enemy base. "Duck!" he heard Melissa say. Sure enough, he ducked just as a ball of electricity hurtled at his head, then threw up a barrier of light to reflect Xerath's blue bolts. They zapped the being of pure energy with little affect, but Ahri dashed up and landed a charm on him. Sona attempted to save him with her healing magic, but Ky pelted him with light and dark projectiles until he fell.

"_Quadra-kill!_"

Four down, one to go, he thought. He charged toward Sona flying at his top speed, ignoring the two turrets pelting him with Lasers. He saw her raise her hand above her head before playing a cord so loud and irresistible, he found it impossible not to dance.

The lasers still drilled into his body as he break danced in place, but a shield from Lux saved him at the last moment. Sona was running, well, floating, back behind her Nexus. He couldn't give up the chase now.

Ky dove into the ground and shifted under the nexus, appearing right next to the musician with the towers no longer shooting him. He saw the fear in her face as he sliced through her etwhal, and her only method of defense, rendering her helpless. With his last surge of energy, he spun his swords around him and decapitated her in a single blow.

"_PENTA-KILL!_"

The only thing he could hear were his own breaths. Then, an explosion sounded nearby. Their minions had destroyed one of the nexus's towers, and quickly went to work on the other one. Maybe the little guys weren't so useless after all.

He turned to his left, seeing a dumbfounded Lux and Ahri staring at him as if he just turned into a dragon. Volibear was no where to be scene; he must have died in all that fighting.

"You two look like you've seen a ghost," Ky remarked in between breaths.

Ahri shook her head as if to clear it. "Sorry, it's just..." she trailed off.

"No one has ever even come CLOSE to getting a penta-kill their first time on the rift!" Lux finished.

Ky shrugged. "Wasn't that hard," he lied. In reality, every fiber of his body was aching or in serious pain. Considering they were about to win anyways, it didn't matter much to him.

"Please," Ahri began. "You wouldn't have even _gotten_ that if we hadn't saved your ass."

He folded his arms. "Jealous?"

Ahri sighed, lazily turning around and kicking the nexus. The whole structure exploded in a frenzy of red light. Ky and the rest of his team were teleported away once more.

The last thing he heard was the announcer yelling; "Victory!"

* * *

**Hey Guys, sorry for the infinitely long wait on this chapter, I've been busy with managing my Youtube Channel, Swimteam, and...well, playing video games, to be fair. Luckily, I made this one extra long (Completely unintentionally, granted.) **

**I have some League of Legends content on my Youtube channel, as well as a few LPs, so if you're interested in checking them out, go to NintendoFireFox at (You'll have to click the "search instead for NintendoFireFox" option to get my channel to come up.**


	12. Chapter 12: Morgana

_"Who the hell is that girl?"_

_"I have no idea!"_

_"...Wait, is that Morg?!" _

_Ky pried his head off the desk at the sound of her name. He glanced over at the open doorway. Aside from the gentle murmurs, the classroom went completely silent as Morgana entered. _

_He hardly recognized her at first. Her shoulder length platinum blond hair was dyed a dark black, and her eyes shone purple instead of their usual blue. She wore a black T-shirt and jeans and was missing most of the jewelry she usually wore. _

_She strode through the classroom without making eye contact with anyone and sat herself down in her normal seat; right next to him. Close enough to know she went a little overboard on the eyeliner._

_For once, the teacher seemed to be at a loss for words. He eventually cleared his throat. "Miss hex, you're three minutes late to class. Care to explain?"_

_"No, I wouldn't," she snapped. They glared at each other for a moment._

_Finally, the teacher sighed. "Kids these days," he muttered._

_Sitting threw rest of his history class was pretty much exactly as boring as usual. Ky had no idea how he got placed in the grade above him for history considering how rarely he actually payed attention. He just kind of effortlessly absorbed the dates and names without thinking about it._

_Which gave him plenty of time to ignore any and all information presented to him and think about other things. He heard whispers shuffle around the classroom, all about Morgana's new look. Most made fun of her, although if she heard any of the insults, she certainly didn't show it.  
_

_He couldn't say he didn't like her new hair color, even though he had no idea why she'd want to dye it in the first place. She looked fine before.  
_

_Class dragged on for what felt like hours, until the sound of the bell finally echoed and broke the painful near silence. The whole class sprinted out the door as if a bomb was going off. Except for him and Morgana._

_She sighed, slowly standing up and and grabbing her binders without even glancing his way. He did the same, following her out the door and nearly bumping into her._

_"Hey..." he ventured just as she turned to walk down he hall._

_Morgana spun around. "What?" she demanded._

_He gave her a toothy smile. "I like your hair," he said genuinely._

_She groaned. "Yeah, whatever..." Her fluffy white wing carelessly smacked him in the face as she turned and stomped down the hall._

_It took him a second to gather his voice. "I-I'm not kidding!" he called after her. If she heard him, she certainly didn't show it. Her hair was the last thing he saw before she whipped around the corner.  
_

_For some reason, he couldn't seem to get Morgana out of his head the whole rest of the day. He cruised through the rest of his classes as if he was on autopilot, with no one to talk too. For the past few millennia, Cody had stopped appearing in his classes. Ky hung out with his best friend all the time, but it felt like they never saw each other in school anymore. Cody was smart, but he certainly wasn't book-smart. Or maybe he just didn't try. Whatever the reason, he barely passed most of his classes, if he passed them at all, while Ky always ended up in the advanced classes without trying.  
_

_He decided to count the number of times a teacher yelled at him for sleeping in the classroom that day. By the end of his second to last class, he reached about twenty-three, but no detention threats were thrown his way. Luckily, his last class was pretty much the only one that could keep him awake. Combat Training.  
_

_The 'classroom' was a large box-like room with padded stone walls and floors with one set of doors and no windows. A few of the dangling ceiling lights needed repairs, rendering some of the room pretty dark. Barrels of wooden swords and shields were scattered along the edges of the room. Overall, pretty depressing. _

_His sparring partner fought the same way he did, sword in one hand, shield in the other. They were clumsy and easy to predict, even though Ky wasn't that great himself. Something just felt...off, while he was fighting. It didn't seem like something he could get used too. So while it kept him awake, it still wasn't fun.  
_

_After a good amount of boring back and forth, Ky managed to get close enough to slash at the boy's arm. It obviously didn't pierce his skin, but it was enough to disarm him. With one last kick, he sent his opponent's shield flying across the sweaty mat, and his body sprawling across the floor.  
_

_Ky didn't get any sense of triumph from watching him hit the ground. Fighting him was like attacking a cat that had only 3 legs. The boy ignored the hand Ky offered and hopped up himself, stomping away to who knows where with a scowl on his face._

_"Nice fighting there," said a female voice Ky hardly recognized at first, probably because he could never remember hearing her compliment anyone._

_He spun around to see Morgana standing behind him, arms crossed with a small smile on her face. _

_"Not really..." he muttered back. "To be honest, I have a more difficult time staying awake in class."_

_Morgana did something else he never thought she'd do. Laugh. "You have a point there. I'm surprised that guy could stand on his own two feet." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Aren't you a little young to be training with us?" She questioned._

_Ky rubbed the back of his head. "Kinda. They keep putting me in these 'big kid classes' as my mom would put it." _

_"Huh. How old are you exactly?" She asked._

_'_Why the sudden interest in me?'_ he wondered._

_"12,500. You?"_

_"14,001, three months, twelve days, and fifteen hours. Give or take a few minutes," she added with a sly smile. _

_The bell rang one final time just as it looked like the coach was about to come over and yell at them for standing around doing nothing.  
_

_"Walk me out?" she suggested._

_Ky blinked. Had he heard her right? "Uh...sure." he stammered.  
_

_They strode out of the training room and back to their lockers. Other students sent them odd or downright disgusted glances as they passed. Ky winced a few times, although Morgana payed them no mind. It was hard not to admire her ability to not care.  
_

_Eventually they collected their things and left the building. They chatted, which was more so just Ky listening to her complain about things and agreeing every now and then, which he didn't mind to much, and walked around the school grounds without really intending to go anywhere.  
_

_"So...did you mean it when you said you liked my new look?" she said quickly."Not that I care, just curious."  
_

_"Of course not, I was just trying to make you feel better about yourself," he said in a sarcastic tone._

_Thankfully, she got the joke. "Great, just checking," she said happily._

_Ky leaned against a tree. "Why _did _you dye your hair, anyway? Follow up question, how did you make your eyes purple, cause' that shit's cool." _

_"Hey, watch the language," Morgana said, mimicking the voice of one of their teachers. "...I, don't really care, by the way." She flipped her jet black hair over her shoulder and sat down next to the same tree. "As for the hair..." She paused for a second, as if choosing her words carefully. "I guess I just got tired of fitting in."  
_

_Ky raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" _

_"Well...before, you or anyone else never really looked at me twice, right?" she asked.  
_

_"Uh..." He didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't remember another time where he'd actually talked or looked at her. Her old look, blonde hair and blue eyes, was fairly identical to almost any other angel, with the only difference being her very defined chin and cheek bones. "...I guess not," he concluded reluctantly. "If I'd known you were cool, I would've, but...you just never seemed very approachable." He bit his tongue. "Sorry, I-" _

_"No, it's fine," she assured him. "Even _I _wouldn't have approached me. At least you're honest, unlike every other person on this godforsaken planet," she said, rolling her eyes. _

_"If you want honesty, you should meet my friend Cody. He pretty much has no filter when it comes to that stuff."  
_

_"Heh, nice. Oh, and the purple eyes are a little secret of mine."  
_

_"MORGANA!" The female voice rang through school grounds louder than the actual bell. Ky whipped towards the sound and nearly flinched. Standing right behind him was a bulky angel with the same facial features as Morgana. While she definitely still appeared to be a teenager, something about her stature radiated power. He sank behind a tree to clear out of her way.  
_

_Surprisingly, Morgana had bright smile plastered on her face. "Hey big sis, something wrong?"  
_

_Morg's sister let out a sigh. "You look ridiculous."  
_

_"Really? I think it feels quite natural." she said playfully.  
_

_"If it were 'natural,' I wouldn't be hearing, ALL DAY, about how my sister looks like a freak," she said slowly.  
_

_"It's just hair dye, Kayle, chill out," Morgana insisted.  
_

_"And how do you explain your eyes, huh?" Kayle waited for a response, but never got one. She let out another sigh. "Alright, we're going home RIGHT NOW. Mom should know what to do about you." She reached down a gently took Morgana's wrist.  
_

_"As if!" Morgana cried, yanking her hand away. "I'm not letting her or _anyone _else making decisions for me anymore."_

_"Morg, you're not old enough to be doing stuff like-"_

_"-Do I look like I care about what you have to say?" she snapped._

_That was the last straw for Kayle. After a blank stare, she grabbed at Morg's wrist and yanked her too her feet._

_"Ow! Kayle, let go of me! LET GO!" _

_"Morgana, shut up! You're making a scene."_

_"Hey, you're hurting her!" Ky yelled, stepping out from behind the tree. _

_Kayle stopped in her tracks and turned to him. She eyed him as if he was an alien. "Who are you?"  
_

_"I'm Ky," he told her, narrowing his eyes. "And I don't appreciate how you're talking to my friend."  
_

_"Excuse me!? I'm her sister, half-pint. And this doesn't concern you." She pushed past him as if he wasn't even there, dragging Morgana behind her._

_"Hey-"_

_"Ky, it's fine, I'll deal with it," Morgana promised, giving up the struggle. Kayle had already taken her across half the courtyard, then lifted them off the ground in flight. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, promise," she called, voice shaking.  
_

_Ky's face fell. "Alright...see ya tomorrow," he said sadly. Ky watched as Kayle and Morgana disappeared over the building. _

_Maybe he'd go after her, if his wings would freaking work properly. Nearly everyone else his age had already learned how to fly instinctively, including Cody, who always took it as a chance to mock Ky.  
_

_He meandered his way back home, cursing at the sunlight pounding on his neck and wondering what would happen to Morgana. Why would everyone have such a big problem with her wanting her to stand out? Either way, he hoped she was able to keep her hair and eyes the same. Some part of him wished he could do something similar, just to give people anything else to make fun of beside her.  
_

_His house popped up in front of him before he knew it. The walk felt shorter than it usually was, probably 'cause he was lost in thought. His mom was right in front of the house, tending to her small garden behind an old wooden fence in need of a paint job. His mom seemed obsessed with cramming as many huge plants as she could in such a tiny spot. A massive rhododendron with pink flowers that just started to bloom sprouted over the walk way to their front door. His mom did her best, but the bush still blocked sunlight from reaching about 60% of the other plants. As a result, the tiger lilies and morning glories drooped like they'd been punched in the face. The only other plants that did well were the rose bushes. They bloomed brighter than any other plant there. They light reflected off their mixture of red and pink flowers, illuminating the rest of the garden. It almost made it seem passable.  
_

_Why did he care again? He had no idea._

__His mother's expression immediately brightened when she saw him walking up the street. _"Hey honey! You're a little late," she exclaimed. "Something keep you?"  
_

_He carefully avoided the rhododendron trying to smack him in the face. "Um...not really," he muttered._

_"So, that's a yes then?" she asked, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Jeez, it's hot out today."_

_"Well...I was talking to a friend of mine," he told her shyly. _

_"A friend? So, not Cody?" she asked half mockingly, half excitedly.  
_

_He knit his fingers together behind his back. "Yeah. Her name's Morgana-"  
_

_"-Oh...that's...one of Melissa's kids," she interrupted.  
_

_Ky's heart skipped a beat. "Is that a problem?" _

_His mother seemed to consider this, absentmindedly yanking a weed from the ground. "No, I suppose not," she concluded, although she wouldn't look him in the eyes.  
_

_"Great! I'm gonna go start on my homework!" he yelled quickly before she could protest or change her mind.  
_

_"Hold on mister!" She grabbed the back of his T-shirt before he could slip through the door. "Did you forget that today's our weekly combat practice?"  
_

_Ky bit his lip. "Maybe." _

_His mother laughed. Then practically dragged him around to the back of their house. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching. Satisfied with her examination, she placed her hand against one small part of their stone wall and pushed it in. With a low click, a small part of the ground opened up, revealing a short spiral staircase lit with torches. She pulled him onto the stairway as quickly as possible. With the pull of a lever, the opening shut itself again.  
_

_"Why do we have to practice in your underground lair again?" he said sarcastically. _

_"Because it's illegal to teach people to fight outside of your school."  
_

_"What kind of law is that, anyways?" he asked._

_"There are a lot of stupid laws," she pointed out. As if that answered his question._

_At the bottom of the stairs sat a rectangular room about the length and width of their house, lit with low hanging torches. Several of them had gone out, although that wasn't much of a problem for Ky and his mother. A few concentrated blasts of light magic was enough to get the wood burning once more.  
_

_Ky reluctantly ran over and grabbed a pair of swords and shields. _

_"You still haven't learned how to fly, have you chicken wings?" his mom remarked. _

_His response was dropping the weapons on her feet. If it hurt, she didn't show it. "Mom, I get enough crap for that at school. I really don't need to hear it from you," he muttered angrily. _

_She had a blank expression on her face for what felt like the longest time. Then replaced it with a look of regret. "First of all, not a tone to take with your mother. Just thought I'd get that out of the way first."_

_Ky groaned and picked up the sword and shield, then turned to walk away._

_"Hey, I'm not done." A hand rested on his shoulder. Her touch always reinvigorated him, even right now, when he could do without it. Something about her just always resonated a mixture of strength and calmness. "You know, I was the same way when I was your age. People called me 'Slow-Ass Samantha.' Not very creative, but it got the job done," she laughed.  
_

_"Fun fact; you're not making me feel any better," he said, turning around to face her._

_"My point is," she continued. "That because of those incredibly terrible insults, I started actually going out and practicing to fly. And I've seen you doing the same, climbing up those tall trees by your school and trying...key word, trying, to glide down."  
_

_"Hey, I got down without a scratch the last few times," he countered._

_"That's great, Ky! Trust me, you'll get it down soon. I think I was around 12,750 years old when i got it." She leaned down and grabbed her sword and shield off the ground. "Shall we?"  
_

_Samantha's reassuring when a longer way than he thought it would. It almost encouraged him to enough to get him in the mood to spar. Almost. He still hated it.  
_

_Unlike his sparring partners at school, he actually had to fight defensively against his mom. Especially since she fought using magic._

_It was definitely more useful to him than the pitiful training he was used to. She constantly would teleport behind him in a flash of light, forcing him to whirl around and block, or sink into the ground to avoid his strikes. He'd picked up some of these tricks himself, earning a nod of respect from her whenever he actually pulled it off. _

_Regardless, it wasn't long until she got the upper hand. She appeared behind him and swept at his legs with her own, knocking him to the ground. Soon after, she sent his weapon and shield clanking across the floor, and her sword appeared by his throat._

_He angrily shoved her sword out of the way and hopped to his feet, ignoring the slight pain from the cut that now ran across his hand. It would heal soon anyways._

_"Mom, would it _kill _you to let me win once and awhile so I _don't _think about killing myself?"_

_She held up her hands. "Whoa, honey. No need to play the suicide card." _

_"Sorry, I don't mean it," he assured her. "I've just...always hated fighting." _

_She blinked. "Really? Are you afraid your gonna hurt someone?" her eyes were filled with worry. "If so, I'm sorry I spent all this time making you do something you hate."_

_"No, it's not like that mom," he began. "There are plenty of people I wouldn't mind impaling," Kayle's face came to his mind. "Swordplay just isn't my thing."_

_Samantha pursed her lips. "I don't think it's the swordplay. It's the shield-play," she guessed. And eager look crossed her face. "I think you might be like me," she said excitedly._

_He crossed his arms. "What, in need of a mental hospital?"_

_Her eyes narrowed. "You're lucky I'm your mom sweetheart, because any other parent I've met would have throw this sword at you. And no, that's not what I was talking about." __She dropped her sword to the ground and kicked it over to him. "Grab yours, too."  
_

_Ky knew what his mother was talking about the second he picked up both swords. How had he never thought to try this before? _

_It felt way more comfortable with a sword in each hand than with that awful cumbersome shield. He practiced a few moves, basic stabs and slashes, already feeling a massive improvement. Before he knew it, he was spinning all over the place, darting around like a toddler on a sugar rush. _

_"Mom, why didn't you tell me to do this sooner?" he yelled from across the room. _

_His mom watched with a joyful expression. "You never told me you didn't like it! 2,000 years and you never gave me the slightest idea..." _

_Ky trained twice as hard as before, and actually won a few duels with his mother. Granted, she stuck with a shield to give him an advantage even though she preferred dual swords too.  
_

_They made their way back up the steps and into their house after a couple hours flew by. While Samantha prepared a couple of ice cream sundaes, topped with caramel sauce, of course, Ky thought more about Morgana._

_"Hey, mom," he started._

_"Uh huh?" she asked, sneaking a squirt of caramel sauce into her mouth._

_"Do you think it would be okay if I went to school without..." He trailed off._

_"Without what?" she pressured._

_"Without using that illusion magic you put on my black wing. Ya know, so people don't know I'm weird."_

_There was a long pause. Then the click of a tongue. "Why on Runeterra would I let you do that? It's for a lot more than keeping people from thinking you're 'weird' Ky."_

_He was glad her back was to him so she couldn't see his embarrassment. "Okay so, basically, Morgana dyed her hair black, and everyone at school is really skeptical about it, so I figured I could say I dyed my wing black to try to fit in with her. That's basically the half-assed version of the story," he added._

_Another pause followed his explanation. Then she spoke up again. "To he honest, I'd rather not have you spend time with her at all," she said quickly. _

_Ky was dumbfounded. "What do you mean?" he asked, taking a step towards her. _

_His mom spun around in her chair. "I've never been much of a fan of their family, we'll leave it at that," she insisted. Ky could hear the anger in her words, eventually deciding not to press on. _

_They ate their sundaes in silence. Right as his mom got up to rinse out her cup, he spoke up again. _

_"Mom, just so I don't have to end up lying to you later, I want you to know that I'm gonna hang out with her anyways." _

_The sound of her footsteps on the hardwood floor abruptly halted. He heard nothing for a few seconds. Maybe she was taking the time to choose her words carefully, something she rarely had to do in his case._

_However, all she said was, "Fine, but don't let_ anyone _catch you with your wing exposed__. Remember, people don't trust us archangels, Ky. At best, we'll be imprisoned. At worst..." She shook her head, not wanting to go on. Ky hadn't heard her talk like this since he first discovered what he was, all those years ago. She slowly turned so they could lock eyes. "Understand?"_

* * *

"Understood," Ky assured her._  
_

"...Really? Because you don't look like you're paying much attention. Ground's over here."

Ky blinked, then forcefully shook his head . He was staring directly into the clouds.

"...Yeah, you might need to run that by me again."

Ahri mustered a giggle. "Come on, I have a hard enough time keeping Zyra from occupying the gardens with her strangle thorn-plant-things. The _least _you could do is listen to me."

The week and a half following Ky's first time on Summoner's Rift had passed by so quickly he swore he'd just blacked out the second he was warped back. Probably the only thing he remembered clearly was the only important thing that happened, moving his whole organization to the Institute of War.

He remembered going up to Vayl on the blissful, sunny afternoon the day after the rift match, and nearly ruining his whole day.

Vayl wasn't exactly ecstatic at the idea of having a ton of angels move into the institute for no charge, although Ky managed to win him over by promising they'd do volunteer work. Vayl gave them an old and beat-up, but still pretty huge building on the outskirts of the government district, stone walls cracked and columns nearly weathered so thin they might break any second, but compared to the Cael sewers, it might have well be a mansion. Ky and his followers had fixed the place up nicely after only a few days.

He would never forget the satisfaction of escorting his people out of Cael without any opposition from the soldiers surrounding them. Never forget the looks on his fellow angel's faces as they left, mixtures of worry and sorrow, but also hope. Never forget Kayle's watchful gaze from under her helmet as she let her enemy slip from clutches.

The first week was hectic. Many of his followers were young, for angel standards, anyways, and desperately wanted to explore with eager eyes. Even James Garmond, the tired old man, was amazed by the surface. Ky managed to keep them on track. He constantly reminded them they'd only receive food if they pulled their own weight, which they had no trouble of doing. After fixing up their new living place, most of them went to work at places like the kitchen or renovations on other buildings that were about ready to fall apart.

Ky was pulled aside a lot, mostly by summoners trying to further limit his abilities on the rift as he apparently proved "too strong." When he wasn't helping his group settle in or being hassled by old guys in robes, he was usually with Cody, Ahri, Lux, and Ezreal, who insisted on spending time with him no matter how many times he told them he was busy. When he questioned Cody on whether or not he'd done anything to help out, his usual response was, "I'm working on it," or, "Hey, I helped carry that weapon crate down from Cael." Cody was his best friend, but _gods be damned_ was he lazy sometimes.

He was amazed how fast people adjusted to having so many angels at the institute for the first time, including his new-found friends. Vayl apparently gave a speech about their arrival a few hours before, so they weren't all too shocked. It honestly surprised Ky how quickly Ahri and the others accepted Cody and himself into their friend group almost immediately. It made sense that Ahri and Ezreal would be loners, due to Ahri's reputation for stealing souls - which as far as Ky knew she hadn't done in a very long time - and Ezreal's main pastime exploring ruins and abandoned temples near Piltover or in the Shurima desert didn't leave him much time to socialize. The only odd one in this group was ironically the most "normal" out of any of them, Lux.

You'd think being the daughter of a high ranking Demacian family, not to mention being naturally pretty, friendly, and soft spoken, would automatically make you popular, but according to Ahri, she was pretty much always by herself with her face in a book until approached by the kitsune. If she'd really been as shy as Ahri had said, Ky couldn't begin to understand how she warmed to him so quickly. Never mind her incredibly obvious mutual attraction towards Ezreal. Seriously, watching those two was like watching a really bad sitcom. So Ahri told him, anyways in between her exaggerated gags.

"...and that's how you know you've watered them enough. Got it?"

"Absolutely," he lied.

Ahri hopped off the wall lining the fountain. "Great, then we're done here for the day,"

Ky had to admit, she and Zyra had done a really nice job on the garden. They _did_ cram a lot of plants in one place at times, but he didn't mind it too much. It reminded him of his mother's garden from all those millennia ago. _Especially _the rhododendrons. That was pretty much the only reason he suggested helping out with it.

"So, what do you wanna do now?" she asked, intentionally putting all her weight on his shoulder.

"First of all, you need to lay off the cheeseburgers," he grunted, shoving her off.

"Oh please, I'm a lightweight at best," she insisted.

"Second of all...I guess we could head down to the arena and get some last second practice in. The tournament is tomorrow, after all."

"Alright then," she agreed. A wishful look filled her eyes. "But only if you fly me over."

Ky sighed. "You break your legs again, sweetheart?"

"In several places," she said sarcastically. "Seriously though, I've been grounded since you flew me up to Cael over a week ago. Throw me a bone."

"...Fine, but you _have_ to teach me that spell that lets me teleport back to the institute whenever I want."

She held out her hand. "Deal."

He reached out his hand as if to shake. Then grabbed her wrist and flipped her into his arms, carrying her bridal-style into the air, then taking off in the direction of the arena.

"Gods dammit Ky! You were _just _complaining about how I weighed too much!" she howled against the wind.

"Trust me, it's like carrying an elephant," he assured her. Their shared laughter was nearly lost in the rushing air.

They touched down in the arena only a couple minutes after taking off. Ky hadn't set foot in it since the day he fought Cho'gath and his other, less threatening, opponents.

They must not have been the only ones who figured it was a good idea to practice. Several other champions were sparring or honing their skills alone, Most of which he recognized. Katarina fought Riven, twirling and and leaping and throwing knives, keeping just out of the range of Riven's massive blade. Miss Fortune appeared to be firing wildly all around her until a stealthed Twitch snuck up behind her. Even Ezreal and Lux fought nearby, firing at each other their own variants arcane and light magic respectively.

"Wait...why can't we die in this arena? No one ever bothered to explain that to me," Ky asked.

"Oh, right...remember how Summoner's Rift had a huge concentration of magical energy?" Ahri began.

"Sure."

"Well, the arena has a similar magical energy, just a hell of a lot weaker. That's why you didn't have to go through that earth-shattering head ache you had on the Rift when you first came here," she explained, getting more and more excited as she always seemed to do when talking about magic. "It amplifies all kinds of magic slightly, even healing. So basically, if healers get to you within thirty seconds after you're slaughtered, they can bring you back. Pretty crazy stuff," she concluded, ducking under one of Katarina's knives. "Hey, watch it bitch! You nicked my ear!" Kat had just enough time to flip her off before back-flipping away from Riven. Ahri had the most hilarious outbursts when she was angry, Ky thought. Just in how quickly she went from pretty chill to freaking insane and bright red in a matter of milliseconds.

"Anyways," she puffed. "You ready to go, or what?"

"I guess...you think they would've tore this place down and built a hospital if that was the case," he said absentmindedly.

"Yeah, they did try that at some point, or so I hear. The whole place is enchanted or something, look, we gonna fight or what?" she blurted.

"Heh, alright princess." Ky slowly reached backed and unsheathed his swords. He was actually looking forward to this just as much if not more than her. Ever since he saw her fight off those soldiers back in Cael, angel soldiers no less, he was eager to take her on himself. "Just so we're clear, I'm not gonna be pulling any punches," he warned.

"Pfft, as if I'd let you," she scoffed. Ky was pretty sure she had no idea what she was getting into. Whether or not she could be revived, he decided he wouldn't try hard enough to kill her.

Ahri put her fists up in a fighting stance. Blue flames lit her hands, and her Orb of Deception appeared right in front of her. "Try not to cry too hard when I kick your ass."

Her face calmed, which was not what Ky expected to see. A deceptive look filled her eyes. They just...stared at each other. For what felt like the longest time. He almost let his guard down.

Good thing he didn't.

"Think fast!" she yelled. A big pink heart was already flying towards his face.

Ky didn't let this phase him. He instantly teleported behind her, taking a slash at her waist. He felt bad about bringing weapons when she had none, but that thought went out the window when she stopped the blade with her bare hand. Blue sparks arched off the spot where the jet black steel had collided with her palm.

Ky blinked. He must've had the stupidest look of disbelief on his face, because Ahri laughed at him. "Cool, huh?"

Suddenly, he felt an unbelievable pain in his chest, then went flying across the mossy stone. His head slammed into something hard, but he managed to keep consciousness. When his eyes opened again, he was at the other side of the arena, and Ahri, from what he could tell, was still holding her leg up, blazing with fire.

"How about a little game, Ky?" she called.

He shook his head and jumped back up to his feet. "And that would be?" he yelled back.

Somehow, from all this ways away, he saw her smile. "Every time one of us hits another, they get to ask a question. And you _have _to answer honestly, got it?" she said cunningly.

"Hmm...I guess," he agreed.

"Great! So let me ask you..." A blue fireball took off speeding towards him, stopping just short of his face. Ahri appeared from the flames. "How much did that hurt?"

Ky laughed. "Like getting bit by a fly."

He sunk into the ground, trying to fake her out, and sure enough, she whipped around expecting him to teleport. He popped back up and lunged forward, _almost_ cutting into her, but she leaped away just in time. He didn't let up, firing bolt after bolt of light and dark magic at her. She countered with her own fire magic, each bolt exploding when met with the flames. Soon, it felt every eye in the arena was on the spectacle of colors they were unintentionally creating.

Before he could react, Ahri spun out of the way of the last bolt he fired and through her orb right at his face, where it nearly found its mark. He ducked under it, but that gave her just the time she needed to get in close. He felt the scorching heat from her fire that surrounded her when she dashed at him, nearly knocking him off balance. A wild smile was spread across her face. She looked like she was having the time of her life.

He couldn't blame her, really. This _was _incredibly fun. She rapidly threw punches and kicks at him which he deflected with his swords, often coming too fast and too close for comfort. He pushed her back with a pulse of dark magic, needing just one second to catch his breath.

Which of course he didn't get him one. Instead, Ahri got close enough to deliver a heavy punch right to his eye. It was about the equivalent of getting hit in the head with a brick flying at 100 mph.

Luckily, angels could take some punishment. Unluckily, she immediately crouched down and kicked him hard enough to launch him into the air before he could do anything to retaliate. Blinded by the flames, he felt her leap up and deliver more punches and kicks, ending in a huge blast of flames hot enough to melt any mortal man's flesh. Good thing he was no mortal man.

He wasn't even given the honor of landing on the ground. Another column of flames appeared below him, burning his back and knocking him up even further. Finally, he was allowed to land head first onto the earth.

When he was able to sit up, he found most of his skin red, his clothes charred, and his asses kicked. He was lucky angel hair was practically indestructible, or else he'd be walking around bald for the next twenty years. Not that that would be long to him, but still.

He heard Ahri's now gentle footsteps parade towards him. Instead of offering him a hand, she just lifted him off the ground.

"So how'd I do?" she asked, as if he was a teacher just finished grading her test.

"Well...you definitely caught me off guard," he assured her. _'How does one fox possess so much power?' _he thought.

"Uh-huh, sure..." she mocked him. "I think I earned more than a few questions from that fight."

He nonchalantly put his hands behind his head, as if nothing had happened. As if every pair of eyes in the arena wasn't on them. "Sure, ask away."

Ahri bombarded him with questions as activity in the arena slowly returned to normal.

"What's your favorite color?" she asked.

"...Storm cloud gray, I guess."

"Nice. Green's my favorite. Forest green to be exact. You can probably imagine why. What's your wingspan?"

"The hell do you care? Whatever, Last time I checked it was about seventeen feet."

"Can I see?" Ky sighed, extending his wings to their full length on either side to their full length. "Cool. Now put those things away before Kat spears it with a knife."

"Oh gee, can I?" he asked, rolling his eyes. His wings curled up behind his back.

"What's your favorite food?"

"Probably steak, but caramel's my favorite taste."

"You have cows up in Cael?"

"Yep. We take cow tipping to a whole new level up there."

Ahri laughed. "You're...joking right?"

He waved her off. "Hey, I haven't sent any cows plummeting to their death, but I know guys who have."

Ahri looked like her whole understanding of reality was shattered. "Oh my gods...those myths about falling cows over Ionia were true...I have SO many people to apologize to." She shook her head. "Oh! You know something I've wondering?"

"Yeah?"

Her eyes seemed stare right through him. "Where do your swords come from? Cause' I couldn't seem to be able to melt them."

"Oh, mean Lumen and Obscurum?"

"They have names?!" she questioned, a little too excitedly. "That's adorable! Which is which?"

"It's not adorable!" he yelled. "They've been passed down in my family for hundreds of thousands of years! Plus, they have an enchantment lost to the ages that keep them from ever dulling or breaking. Probably why you couldn't melt them, unless you're just not as hot as you think you are," he said smugly.

"You didn't answer the ques-"

"-White one's Lumen, black one's Obscurum," he interrupted. "I think that's enough questions for right now."

"Oh come on!" she groaned. "That was only, like, three. Give me at least one more! It's something that's been bothering me for awhile."

Ky raised an eyebrow. "Fine, go ahead," he sighed.

"Okay...if angels are immortal, how come I've seen so many that look older than the rest? Like that James Garmond guy."

Ky smiled. "You wanna know a little secret?" He leaned in closer. His voice was barely even a whisper. "Angels aren't actually immortal, Ahri."

It didn't sound like such a big deal, until you consider the stake. Immortality. The ability to literally live for all eternity, never to grow old.

"Wait...you-you're not joking?" Ahri stammered.

"How can you tell?"

"I've got a bit of a knack for reading faces. If you were lying, your eyes would show it," she boasted. "But...why lie about it? And how long _do _you live for, exactly?"

Ky bit his lip. "Lemme answer the first question with another question. Are you afraid of dying, Ahri?"

The question took her aback at first. "Of course I am," she exclaimed, as if it were obvious.

"Well, angels are too. Don't get me wrong, we live a LONG time. Probably around 150,000 years. Not to put you down or anything, but angels are basically a super-human race. Harder to kill, stronger, able to fly, and we live so long we might as _well_ be immortal. I've heard that the first angels to touch down on Valoran spread that rumor to seem more powerful, until they realized they didn't have too. Ever since then...it just sorta stuck."

Ahri seemed mystified. "Huh. I guess that makes some sense..."

"Nothing lives for forever, Ahri," he heard himself say. Although it sounded like it came from another person. "…Nothing."

"Well, good," she murmured, not even taken aback by his odd statement.

"How do you mean?"

" I dunno. I'd just _really_ hate to live forever," she proudly stated. "After a while it would just feel pointless." She didn't seem too sure.

"I guess," he agreed, although he wasn't sure if he believed. '_Probably better to just drop it', _he thought, casually stretching his arms. "You wanna practice some more? It's getting a little late," he observed. The sky had shifted from it's usual blue to more of a bright orange, and even that was slowly fading to black. The whole place was already dark due to the tall coliseum walls shading them from what little light there was left in the sky.

"Nah, I'd rather just head back to my dorm. I wanna make sure I'm not exhausted for the tournament tomorrow. I've been looking forward too it for awhile now," she explained.

Ky nodded. "Sounds good."

"Fly me over there?" she asked with a wink.

"...Teach me the damn teleport spell and I'll think about it," he grunted.

* * *

After Ahri finally gave in and taught him the spell, he returned her to her dorm before long. Activity in the champion's quarters were practically nonexistent. Ky guessed that most had already turned in for the night, and those who hadn't were still at the arena training. He didn't mind the silence, really. It was probably the only peace he'd gotten in the last week or so. Between assisting his own organization or getting pulled aside by his friends and those annoying summoners, there was hardly a moment left for him to take a piss, let alone rest. It killed him to admit it, but he really was completely overwhelmed and exhausted. He trudged up the steps to the angel dorm, enjoying the light breeze in his hair. Unfortunately, he ran into a familiar face.

Morgana stood just inside the doors, leaning against the wall as if she were waiting for him. The dim lighting illuminated her ghostly pale skin.

Ky sighed. "The hell do you want, Morg."

"Oh, come now," she began, taking her hand off the wall. "Is that anyway to greet a lady, let alone an old friend?"

He teleported right in front of her. His face was only a few inches from hers. "Last time I checked, we didn't exactly leave off as _friends_," he spat.

She didn't even flinch, just slowly drifted away from him. "Well, as far as I'm concerned, ancient history should be ancient history," she chided.

Ky scoffed. "Easy for you to say. Unless I'm remembering it wrong, _I'm _the one whose mother you killed."

Morgana's cruel laugh resonated down the narrow hallway. "Ky, Ky...always the joker. Or else you _must _be remembering it wrong. You know just as well as I do I'm not the one who twisted the knife."

"Maybe not, but you're definitely the one who ran her through with it," his voice wavered. Why did it have to waver? The last thing he wanted was for Morgana to know...no...no, to _think _she intimidated him. Aggravated him beyond belief, sure. But intimidated?

"Why do do you insist on keeping the blame me? I'm trying to make a deal with you here...make up for our...past misunderstandings."

"Misunderstandings!?" he yelled. He couldn't control himself anymore. Light and dark magic erupted from his body, swirling around him and clouding his vision.

Her laugh came again, louder this time. "You're so cute when your mad, _Kiwi_." Her next breath was cut short by a pair of swords crossed around her neck.

"Don't...ever...call me that," he grunted through gritted teeth.

He saw her slip. For just _one _second, fear filled her pure white eyes, her twisted smile disappeared. For just that one second, he had her right where he wanted her.

And then all the light bulbs in the room burst in a frenzy of sparks.

Ky was blown against the wall like he weighed less than a leaf. His already injured head smashed into the wall harder than before. Everything was dark. But he wasn't losing consciousness. Morgana had literally drained every inch of light in her anger.

"You dare threaten me?!" Her voice was all around him, inside his head, screaming against the pulsing headache already had. "You haven't changed in the slightest Ky! AFTER 100 YEARS!" She screamed the last words, like icicles digging into his brain. He was nearly screaming along with her. But he wouldn't give in.

As fast as it came, the darkness was swept away as Morgana's little temper tantrum cooled. Ky sank to the floor with a thud. His head still felt like rolling off his neck, but he was okay.

Morgana stilled seemed pissed off, although it was hard to tell now that there was hardly any lighting. The only thing he could make out clearly were her disturbing eyes.

"Look, you and I both know who the _real _enemy is," she said slowly.

Ky carefully stood up from the ground, nearly grunting with every movement and using the wall for support. "I know you want me to help you take down Kayle, Morg. Save your bullshit riddles." He had to force himself to meet her gaze. "But you know as well as I do what you'll do with your newfound power once we stop her."

Morgana put on a pout face. "I've changed, Ky. I swear it."

Ky smirked at her. "Next time you try to convince someone you've 'changed,' don't open with taunting and insulting them, _babe_."

Morgana groaned. "Stubborn as always, I see." The next thing he knew, her hand was forcefully grabbing his chin. She lifted his head so their eyes met again. They next time she spoke, her voice was soft. Like she was talking to a pet cat. "My cult has been trying for millennia to overthrow Kayle, my _dear_, and you're frankly in no better a position than I am. If strength in numbers is truly what you believe in, and you wish to make change without violence, don't make me laugh. You'll join me."

"Get out of my face, Morg," he said, throwing her hand off.

She scowled. "Fine, fine. I see you need more...time, to think it over." She left without another word, disappearing around the corner like a shadow.

Ky could barely keep from laughing. As if she actually expected him to change his mind. Working with Morgana would be like digging his own grave. She'd proven long ago not to be trusted. To ask his forgiveness - no, not even - to _demand_ his forgiveness was an insult to him...and his mother.

He practically broke his own door down he stormed into the room so fast. He threw his robe off and slammed himself on the bed. He wanted nothing more than a good night's sleep for the tournament tomorrow. Maybe if he was lucky, he'd be bashing Morgana's head in...

* * *

**Holy shit, how long has it been since I updated...4 months?! Sorry guys, I swear I've been working a good amount, I just write at a slow pace to make sure I don't sound retarded. Unlike most writers on this site, I figure making good content is more important that updating frequently, so I hope you guys can respect that. ...Of course, you could always go over to my youtube channel NintendoFireFox for more LoL stuff *wink wink, nudge nudge* And as always, feel free to review and tell me alllllllllllllllllll the shit i screwed up on.  
**


	13. Chapter 13: The Tournament (Part 1)

_"You guys are freaking insane." _

_There Ky stood, on the edge of reality, the wind rippling through his hair and sending shivers down his spine._

_"C'mon Ky, man up!" Cody teased.  
_

_"There's a pretty huge difference between 'manning up' and getting yourself killed!" Ky yelled. He'd never been quite this close to the edge of Cael before, let alone hanging his toes over the practically bottomless void. The view of the lower valleys and hills of Cael across the mile wide gaping chasm was nearly enough to distract him from his friends' insanity. The rolling landscape were painted with the thick, warm reds and oranges of autumn. Not to mention the giant clear blue waterfall that somehow never ran out of water even though it didn't have any sort of visible source. It was a shame none of that was below him to break his fall. _

_"You're not gonna die, pussy. We'll be here to catch your ass if you fail," Morgana promised. _

_"There's got to be an easier way. The hell did you guys learn to fly?" _

_"Not sure, but it involved being in the air," she barked. "You're wings are definitely big enough Ky, and the best way for you to learn how to use them is to put you in a situation where you have to," she explained. _

_"Yeah, okay, what fortune cookie did you get that out of?" he stammered._

_She threw her long black hair over her shoulder. "Well excuse me for trying to help you," she pouted. _

_Ky backed away from the ledge. "Look guys, I'm just jot ready yet. Can't we just go back to practicing above solid ground?"_

_"Nope!" Cody called over-enthusiastically. _

_"Is that my cue?" Morgana asked him. _

_"Did we agree on a cue?" Cody said, scratching his head. _

_"Probably not," she concluded. _

_Before Ky could figure out what they were talking about, the two flew over to him and shoved him off the edge of the world. _

_He couldn't seem to scream. Something about the shock just lodged itself in his throat, choking him from the inside. He snapped himself out of it just in time to see Cael slipping away from him as the clouds consumed him. That's when the screams finally came.  
_

_He flailed his arm and wings in every direction like a chicken without a head. There was no way to stop. He couldn't allow himself to calm down. All he could do was listen to the whistling wind as he fell to his demise. _

_"Ky!" He somehow heard his best friend's voice over his own cries of protest. Cody appeared beside him, diving head first with his wings locked tightly behind him. The bastard managed to wear a smile as he watched Ky plummet. _

_"Cody, HELP ME!" Ky pleaded, tears streaming down his face. They were carried away like raindrops in the wind._

_"Ky, relax! Get it together man!" he yelled. _

_Ky couldn't believe him. His best friend had the audacity to tell him to relax while he fell to his death. Not to mention Ky wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Cody's sorry ass._

_"Listen! Do you really wanna have to get saved by_ me_ of all people? Morgana and everyone else will never let you live it down! Just chill out and use that hot air of yours to keep yourself up!" _

_Ky shook his head. This couldn't be happening..._

_…But it was. Letting Cody drag him back up to Cael with tears in his eyes wasn't an option. He needed to cool off, just keep a level head. At least until he was safe._

_He reluctantly nodded to his friend, then maneuvered his body so his stomach was flat towards the ground. Finally, he felt his angelic instincts begin to take over._

_His wings extended to their full span, catching the wind and slowing his descent by a good amount. With a huge inhale, he pushed his wings down around him with his back muscles. It was a grueling effort, but it was doable. He felt himself gain a little height before returning to his glide._

_He repeated the same process again and again: inhaling, flapping, exhaling. Before long the movement just became natural to him. To his surprise, Morgana and Cody fell in line on either side of him. Cody punched him in the arm, nearly making him lose his focus._

_"Congrats, Ky. You're flying!" _

_"I'm pretty sure he already noticed that, you dolt," Morg insulted._

_Soon, a smile made its way on to Ky's face. He was _actually_ flying. What had felt like roaring winds and choking clouds were now just gentle breezes and mist._

_He wished he could describe what it was like to soar. But no words came mind. He was too mesmerized to think clearly. 'Joy' and 'freedom' would have been some of the ones he chose, as if they were enough to express his emotions.  
_

_Ky couldn't contain his excitement. Not five minutes after he learned and he was already dragging his friends to the bottom of the cloud layer to get a glimpse of the land below._

Runeterra_. It was a truly beautiful place, at least from up here. Wide open fields that would've stretched farther than the eye could see if Ky'd had the misfortune of being born on the surface, huge bodies of that dark blue water that caught the light of the sun perfectly, and great big mountain ranges that even at their peak weren't close to reaching the heights Ky and his friends soared at. Somehow, Ky had learned to truly appreciate where he lived for the first time without his curiosity of the surface dwindling. Here, in the sky with his closest of friends, Ky felt at home._

* * *

Ahri cringed and pulled the blanket up over her eyes as the first light of the sun seeped through her window and into her room. That was, until she remembered what day it was. She rolled over and glanced at her alarm clock. _7:48._

"Oh, Shit!" Her covers ended up sprawled across the floor. The tournament started in only seven minutes.

_Ten years_, she thought, throwing herself in the shower. Granted, she'd only been there for about four, but it felt like an eternity. She loved the Institute of War. It was the only place she ever lived where she felt...safe. Sure, she truly belonged to the forest, everything from the lush green foliage to the animals that roamed it felt at home to her, but there was always that uncertainty of what lies behind each branch. A bear...or a pack of killer wolves, in Ky's case. Before she became a human, the forests actually used to terrify her. It wasn't until she could properly defend herself that she began to recognize its true beauty.

But the institute? How could she not feel at home here? The people here accepted her like no one else she'd ever met had. Granted, not right away.

Tired and guilty of stealing souls, she just...hopped on a boat, rode to the mainland, and...showed up one day. Sure enough, the institute had already heard of her misadventures in Ionia, and had her tried for murder. There wasn't really much else to do but plead guilty.

Just when it seemed like she'd made a mistake and there were about to lock her up, probably her worst nightmare, the head summoner stood up for her. She'd never been happier or more grateful, aside from when she discovered she'd become human, than when Drake Vayl saw past her crime, and saw that she'd changed. To the dismay of a majority summoner council, he offered her a position as a summoner. But she knew it wasn't for her. It was just too boring &amp; simple, and she no longer desired to control others as she had before. She decided on becoming a champion, representing nothing but herself League of Legends. Well, maybe Ionia too, but Irelia would've strangled her back then if Ahri had tried to represent her island home.

I mean, sure, no one would come within ten feet of her for the first few months, but once she settled in, she grew to love the place. The shops, the summoners, the gardens...the food. Holy crap was her life anything but complete before her first cheeseburger.

What time was it now? Ahri hopped out of the shower, jaw dropping when she noticed the clock. _7:53 _

"I only have two minutes!?" she yelled out-loud. Why hadn't Lux come to wake her up?

She rushed out of the bathroom and quickly threw on some underwear and her favorite red and white kimono still dripping wet. With no time left for her hair, she settled on shoving it in a scrunchy for a hastily made pony tail.

Whatever, it's not liked anyone would care how she looked while she was kicking their ass.

A trail of fire followed her on her way out the door. Maybe if she was lucky she wouldn't have burned down the entire Ionia dorm.

No one awaited her in the champion's quarters. The premises was totally deserted.

Ahri sprinted down the sidewalk on all fours in the direction of the arena. Her lungs felt like they were trying to bust out of her chest, but she kept going. Last time she came late for anything Vayl was hosting, he chewed her ear off about the, "importance of attendance," or some other bullshit like that.

She clambered up the steps to the arena a minute after the event was supposed to start.

"…Today is a day of great appreciation," came Vayl's amplified voice. From Ahri's angle, you would think the arena was just as barren as it usually was. While walking in on Vayl spinning around and yelling to himself in a huge empty space would've been hilarious, it obviously wasn't the case.

Even after returning to running on two legs, Ahri was moving so fast that she couldn't stop herself from sliding under the archway and pretty much straight into the center of the arena. Her foot caught on the last few steps leading onto the center platform, sending her flipping over and nearly slamming her face into the ground. Luckily, she threw her hands out in time to catch herself and spring back up to her feet. Unluckily, she now looked like an idiot in front of the several thousand people sitting up in the huge stone complex.

Vayl sighed. "Oversleep _again,_ my dear?"

Did he half to say it into the microphone?

"Well _excuse_ me you don't make sure the only people _essential_ to your big tournament are there on time," she spat back. If only the audience could hear her.

"Just go with the other champions..." Vayl commanded.

Ahri frowned, then slunk over to where the rest of the champions were sitting. They had their own private seating area to one side of the center platform. Fine by Ahri, since it was the only damn spot where you could get any shade. The atmosphere had ceased to exist or something, and the sun pounded down hotter than it had been all summer. Her clothes that were drenched in shower water maybe two minutes ago were now drenched in sweat.

She basically tuned out the rest of Vayl's introductory speech. It wasn't that she didn't care what he had to say, but he sang his praises for the institute so much already that the whole tournament and celebration felt unnecessary. Although who could pass up an extra opportunity to roll some heads?

She found Ky, Lux, and Ezreal standing around talking about whatever while Cody hung upside down from the stands several feet above. His hair blocked most of the view of his face, but he didn't seem to mind being left out one bit.

"Having fun over there, Codester?" Ahri taunted.

He shrugged, which only dropped even more tangled hair in his face. "It's alright. I get why bats like to do this now."

"Well, your brain could use the extra blood. I don't think it's been running properly," Lux remarked. She wore her normal bright white combat mage robes with that navy blue hair band that made her already unrealistically blonde hair look even blonder. Her fingers daintily wrapped around a parasol with a cute little flower pattern on it.

"Says the lady holding an umbrella on the least cloudy day of the century," Cody countered.

"It's not an umbrella! It's a parasol," Lux said defensively.

"...But we're standing in the shade," Ahri chuckled.

"My skin is _very _sensitive, I'm already turning red!" she swore, holding out her hand for Ahri to examine.

"Oh, yeah, you're red as a tomato," she muttered sarcastically, noting Lux's practically bleached white knuckles. "By the way, thanks for remembering to wake me up."

"Not my fault you sleep like a rock!" Lux teased, yanking her hand back. "Besides, I stood there knocking for like, five minutes."

"...For ten long years, the Institute of War has protected the citizens of Valoran, and worked effortlessly to keep peace between our nations," Vayl cut in, his voice steadily rising. "Today, we are represented by the valiant warriors of each of our major cities." Vayl raised his fist in the air. "Demacia!" Lux and every other Demacian broke into an applause lasting far too long. "Noxus!" Even louder this time.

Vayl kept on with this as he listed every major location in Valoran. "Bilgewater! Bandle City! Piltover! Freljord! Kumungu! Zaun! Cael! Ionia!"

Ahri almost joined in on the cheers when her nation was announced, but she figured she'd just get drowned out by the others.

And then her ears were assaulted by the loudest thing she'd ever heard.

Vayl must have said something awe-inspiring in the five seconds Ahri blocked him out, because the cries and cheers of the audience grew just _slightly_ louder than a nuclear explosion.

She slammed her ears down and tried to block out the noise, but it was useless. Her leftover foxy bits were going to be the gods damn death of her.

Luckily, the crowd died down pretty fast. She glanced over at Ky, who looked to be in a similar state of disgusts.

"Bastards are nosier than the damn Void dorm..." he said through gritted teeth.

"Try standing next to thirty different cannons firing at the same time," a sultry voice came from nearby.

Ahri noticed the talking mess of red hair and a pirate's hat for the first time. Miss Sarah Fortune turned towards them, carefully wiping off her beloved pistols with a rag. "Not very pleasant."

"I wouldn't imagine," Ahri stated plainly. She'd never really spoken with the self-proclaimed Queen of Bilgewater (who'd want to be queen of a grubby little town sitting out in the middle of the ocean on a tiny island?), although she couldn't say exactly why. Maybe Sarah was always just too busy hunting down pirates too hang around the Institute, although Ahri thought they could get along well. Apparently they both had the uncanny ability of seducing men within seconds, so at least they had one thing in common, even if Ahri wasn't too fond of it herself. "A few cannons aimed at the crowds would be nice right about now."

Miss Fortune nodded in agreement. "And another for Mr. Big-Shot head summoner giving himself the egotistical hand-job."

"I know what you mean. Kayle gives the same bullshit speeches..." Ky added curtly.

Ahri tried not to feel like she'd been stabbed in the gut. She managed a smile and, "Come on, he's not that bad."

"Whatever you say," Fortune said with a shrug.

"We could do worse," Ky followed. "Oh, Fortune?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Try not to hit my guys when you fire on these morons."

As if on cue, a feather gently sailed down and landed right between Ahri's ears. Angels filled a good chunk of the highest seats of the arena, if they were in seats at all, looking ready to cheer Ky on at any given moment.

"Sorry, not making any promises," Sarah added with a sly smile.

The roar of applause came again, nearly driving Ahri to tear her hair out. She settled on the feather still sitting on her head.

"Ugh. Seriously, no promises. At least half of that came from your _guys_, feather-face," Fortune spat.

"You're just jealous you don't have a team behind you," Ky mocked.

"Yeah, tell that to my _crew. _What was that last cheer even for?" she asked bluntly.

"They just put of the roster for the tourney," Ezreal pointed out. "Looks like we're gonna be here awhile."

Of the Institute's 124 champions, 96 had signed up for the tournament (Ahri was pretty sure they forced a few more in just to make it a convenient number.) So, yeah, Ezreal was probably right.

"Looks like you're up first, Ahri," Miss Fortune commented.

"Wait, really?" Sure enough, her name was listed in the very first bracket it large bold letters. "...Lucky me."

"Oh crap, Ahri! You're up against Syndra." Lux gasped.

"Yeah, thanks. Because I couldn't read that myself." Figures she'd be matched against the mage with 'unlimited power.'

Ahri snuck a look at the Dark Sovereign herself, trying not to flinch in intimidation. Which admittedly took more effort than Ahri wanted it to, fueling her frustration. At first glance, Syndra didn't appear too threatening. She had that weird running trend with dark mages where their skin glows creepily pale like she bathed in a vat of bleach, and her body was pretty small. It was the near-permanent sneer, glowing purple eyes, and dark magic arcing off her body that sold the whole 'I'm going to kill you' look she tried to pull off. And the levitating bullshit didn't help.

Syndra cast her a careful glare, not seeming the least bit worried. She sent a forced smile Ahri's way, flipping her long silver hair over her shoulders with her telekinesis. And took out Ahri's legs from under her.

Ahri caught herself, but noted the gesture. "She's going down."

"Ahri, it's not that i don't believe in you or anything, but she lifted a gods damn castle 1,000 feet off the ground with her _mind_. You're screwed," Lux so helpfully informed her.

"So, you _don't_ believe in me?"

"Nope."

Ahri resisted the urge to strangle her friend.

"You can take her," Sarah assured her. "Just get her angry."

"You want me to piss off the person trying to kill me?!" Ahri wailed.

Fortune rolled her eyes. "Ahri, you fight her more often than I do on the Rift, I figured you would've caught on to this by now. Syndra completely loses her concentration when she's taunted. She'll start flinging random crap at you until she leaves herself open."

Ahri blinked. "And _how _do you know this?"

Sarah smiled as the bullets in her gun clicked into position. "I'm a bounty hunter, lady. Exposing weaknesses is what I'm best at."

Ahri nodded her appreciation as Vayl called her name. She started toward the center platform with newfound confidence in her stride. She'd have to thank Sarah later.

"Good luck," Fortune called.

"Kill shit," Ky added eloquently.

Ahri stopped and squared off against her opponent, ignoring the audience around her. They didn't matter. There wasn't even an arena, just a wide open field back on Ionia. And a psychotic dark mage bent on destroying her.

Syndra wore a dainty smile, clearly not taking things seriously. Which was fine. Ahri would _make _her take it seriously.

"Sorry you had to be matched against me for the very first round. It simply isn't fair," Syndra said in mock sympathy.

Ahri managed a fake laugh. "Yeah, I know. I _am _a bit too strong for you."

Syndra scoffed, flinging around one of her dark spheres like a yo-yo. "That doesn't even warrant a response."

The odd clear walls of energy formed around the duo, trapping them inside the arena to fight like caged animals. No different from usual, Ahri supposed.

"Here's to ten successful years of the Institute of War!" Vayl announced, just as a loud bell noise resonated through the air.

Ahri was immediately lifted off the ground by Syndra's magic before she could process anything. Her screams of agony penetrated the other sounds as Syndra literally began to tear her apart from the core.

* * *

Ky watched in horror as Ahri convulsed in Syndra's hold, squirming like a leech. He saw Lux throw her hand over her mouth in an attempt to hold in her gasp. Miss Fortune's eyes widened, and the audience went dead quiet. For once, even Cody had nothing to say. The only sounds were Ahri's attempts at screams, coming out more as strangled cries.

Ky shook his head. He wouldn't let her go down without a fight. "C'mon, Ahri!" His simple yet effective words cut the silence like a machete.

At first, it was just him. Then slowly, his nearby friends joined in, followed suit by Ky's followers. Within seconds, which was good, since Ahri wasn't holding out too well, nearly half the audience was cheering for her. If Syndra was powerful enough to tear huge chunks of earth out of the ground, Ahri must've been keeping herself alive by sheer willpower.

* * *

Pain. Ahri had been killed hundreds of times on Summoner's Rift, but she hadn't felt the pinnacle of physical pain until now. It was hard to believe, but some things felt better than getting torn in half from your abdomen.

Her vision had just started to black out when she heard everyone's cheers, led by Ky. Her confidence returned.

Would she lose to Syndra?

Probably.

In the first twenty seconds?

Hell no.

Ahri regained control of her body just long enough to launch a massive ball of blue fire from her fingertips right at Syndra's face. Whether or not it actually connected she couldn't tell, but it was at least enough to break Syndra's concentration and cause Ahri to fall towards the ground.

She nearly collapsed right there, but somehow kept on her feet. Her pain was traded for anger.

Syndra grunted in annoyance. The next time she tried to gain control over Ahri, her efforts were shrugged off.

"Impossible! You're not as weak as you look, whore."

Maybe Ahri should have felt offended, but something about Syndra's tone just made her laugh. Not her usual cheerful laugh either, this one was closer to a cackle.

"...I'm sorry, did I drop you on your head?" Syndra scorned.

Ahri managed to control herself enough to grant a response. "No, you're just...so...pathetic!" she mustered in between giggles. "I've met badgers with stronger magic than you!"

Syndra growled. "I'll tear you apart from the inside!"

She didn't waste any time, either. Syndra conjured a line of her dark spheres in front of her and sent them flying at Ahri with a psychic push, covering the stretch of the whole arena in less than a second.

Not fast enough for Ahri, though. She leapt over them and landed with her tails ablaze in bright orange flames. Her orb of deception appeared by her hand.

"You sound like a badger too..." she said playfully. "Let's dance!"

And she meant it literally. Syndra starting throwing everything she had at Ahri, conjuring and throwing and pushing her dark spheres around in attempts to actually hit her. Ahri dodged all of Syndra's attacks in the most demeaning way possible: dancing around them. She loved messing with her opponents in combat, and if potential thousands of people were going to watch her fight, she might as well put on a show.

At the same time, she put Fortune's plan into effect. Syndra probably thought Ahri was mental or something, but she was actually paying close attention to Syndra's attacks. Watching her growing frustration. It was funny, too, watching her face get angrier and angrier like a fox failing to catch a chicken over and over again.

Finally, Syndra slipped up. She exerted every bit of energy she had into one more blow, throwing spheres and pulses of dark magic and even chunks of the tile floor Ahri's way.

Even Ahri herself felt her eyes become cold and calculating. She turned and sprinted away from the onslaught on death headed her way and jumped at the wall.

Her feet did their best to plant into the side of the wall of nothing in front of her. She quickly scurried up it, which to the audience probably looked like running in mid-air, and flipped off when she couldn't get any more height. Her feet missed Syndra's magic by just millimeters.

The second she hit the ground, she took off sprinting. Syndra realized Ahri was still alive a little too late. So late that a giant orb of deception rocketing towards her face didn't register.

Syndra flew back like a rag doll caught in a hurricane and slammed her back against the wall. Ahri dashed straight at Syndra's limp body in a ball of fire, the support of her friends only making her want to go faster. She rammed into Syndra full-force, hearing the eerie satisfaction of her bones snapping. From the looks of it, she finally burned some color into Syndra's skin.

Ahri was actually a bit sad that it had ended so quickly, but medics and healers rushed her off as they tended to Syndra's wounds.

Ky high-fived her before she was even off the stage.

"And they said it couldn't be done!" he exclaimed in an over-the-top announcer voice.

Lux hugged while laughing her head off. "Sorry I doubted you!"

"Yeah, it's fine...please let go, they didn't heal me yet, and you're kind of making me want to rip your head off again."

* * *

Ky leaned against the wall with his hands tucked behind his head, trying to lose himself in his thoughts. Neither he or any of his friends were fighting anytime soon, and the excitement from Ahri's victory had long died down.

After spending years practically all by himself, he grew to hate staying around huge groups of people for long periods of time. Especially when they this damn noisy. It felt like the only time he ever had to himself was when he was crashed on his bed after a day of classic bullshit.

"Having fun there, Kiwi?" Ahri asked, sliding up next to him.

"If by 'fun' you mean 'resisting the urge to claw my ears off,' than yeah, I'm having a blast!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of crowds either," she agreed. "I prefer hanging around just a few friends most of the time." A thoughtful look crossed her face. "Although for someone who likes to keep to himself, you're a pretty good motivational speaker."

Ky laughed. "First of all, I don't keep just to myself. You can ask Cody about anything I've said in the last 10,000 years and he'll list all my rants. Second of all, if that sucky speech I gave back in Cael is what you're talking about, you're delusional."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You're an inspiration to them," she assured him. He figured she was joking at first, but her expression was sincere.

"Whatever. I'm more of a face of the rebellion that anything," he sighed.

Ahri groaned. "Yeah, okay, sure. Take another look."

Ky looked back at his followers in the audience. He knew at least half of them by name, which was saying a lot, since there were well over a hundred of them. He knew exactly what Ahri meant when he saw the T-shirts with his face printed on them, with white and black text reading 'Join the Cause!' or 'Return Cael to it's former glory!' and other generic phrases like that. When he met their gazes, they stood up and started cheering for him all over again.

"Huh. Don't remember asking them to make T-shirts..." he trailed off, waving back.

Ahri giggled. "Yeah, we came up with it while you were sleeping. Stayed up half last night working on it. Probably why I slept so late," she admitted. "But yeah, give yourself credit. You're not some politician on the back-lines, you're leading the charge."

Ky nodded. He needed the encouragement, more than he'd like to admit. Especially after his 'conversation' with Morgana the previous night, if you could even call it that. More like 'unwanted harassment.' "Thanks, Ahri. I appreciate it."

Their moment was interrupted by the sound of gunfire. Ky's head spun towards the center of the arena, where Miss Fortune had just planted a bullet right between the eyes of some brunette holding a rifle. Her body flew back before crumpling to the floor like a drunkard who'd just downed fifteen beers.

"Aaaand there goes Caitlyn," Ahri said. She stretched her arms above her head like she couldn't care less. "Hey, I heard they're selling caramel apples out front," she added slyly.

Ky's eyes lit up. "You could've skipped the whole pep-talk if you led with that," he said, grinning.

Just as they turned towards the exit, Ky heard his name called from across the arena, followed by a "...versus Master Yi!"

Ahri clapped her hands together and put on an over-the-top smile. "Welp, _never_ saw that coming! Knock em' dead." She practically shoved him towards the battleground. "And hurry up! I had to skip breakfast this morning."

"If there's anything I can promise you, it's a quick fight." Even though he wasn't quite sure himself.

He recognized his opponent the second his eyes fell upon him. Master Yi was a skilled swordsman from Ionia, probably one of, if not _the_ best in all of Valoran. He was thin, tall, and quick on his feet. But that wasn't what was intimidating.

For starters, his sword literally glowed yellow with energy. Energy from what, Ky had no idea. Another odd thing about him were his goggles. You'd think the fact that they covered pretty much the entire upper half of his face was strange enough, but what disturbed Ky the most were the fact there were five eye sockets. Ky wondered if he wasn't human. Or if he just had some kind of weird birth defect. Probably the latter.

Ky cleared his throat. "Finally, another swordsman. It's been awhile since I've sparred with one."

Yi didn't respond right away. Ky crossed his arms, wondering if he had even heard him. The Wuju Bladesman stood stock still, examining his blade.

"...Tell me, why do you fight, young one?"

Ky had to refrain from rolling his eyes. "Look, I know you're trying to be 'mystic' and all that bullshit, but you could we fight _before _you shower me in your pretentiousness? And I'm a lot older than I look."

Yi finally moved, cracking a smiling. "And not half as wise as you are old." He shifted into a more battle-ready stance, gripping his blade in two hands. "Impress me."

Ky drew his swords. "Gladly."

Without warning, Ky was showered with blows. He managed to block most of the them, but one slashed across his left shoulder. Ky winced in pain, pushing his attacker back with a pulse of dark magic.

Yi reappeared at the other end of the arena, a smug look on his face. Ky hadn't even seen him move.

"Watch where you swing that shiny letter opener of yours," Ky taunted, shrugging off the wound. He decided firing projectiles would be worthless due to Yi's speed, so he took to the air instead.

Yi lept at him just as fast as before, but Ky was ready for him this time. He crossed his swords in front of him to block the next strike. With no where to go, Yi was easily grabbed and thrown towards the floor. The stone arched when Yi's body collided with a loud crack, drowning out his cry of pain.

Ky swooped down to deliver the final blow, but his swords met the ground instead of flesh. Yi was somehow already back on his feet and ready to retaliate. He kicked Ky square in the chest and sent him flying away from his swords and into the wall.

A groan escaped Ky's lips as he regained his balance. Master Yi had sheathed his own weapon and was tossing around Lumen and Obscurum like a couple of batons.

"I can sense your hatred," Yi chided, not even glancing Ky's way.

In response, Ky teleported behind him and swept Yi's legs out from under his body, grabbing his swords back. Yi rolled away before Ky could do anything else.

"Great, can you sense my victory too while you're at?"

The swordsman had that stupid half-smile on his face again. "Sorry, I'm a Wuju Master. Not a miracle worker."

Ky grunted and dashed at Yi again. His blow was easily deflected, and Yi seized his opportunity. The next thing Ky knew, there was a saber shoved through his chest.

He stumbled back as his whole body went numb. His hands trembled as he clutched the hilt of Yi's blade, stumbling backwards into oblivion. He couldn't even hear the clang of his swords hitting the ground.

"Heh, just kidding." He shot Yi a huge grin as he started tearing the sword out of his chest. It hurt worse than he'd like to admit, but not nearly enough to do him in. Of course the sickening sound of metal and...glowy stuff cutting through his flesh didn't comfort him. Although the collective gasps of the crowd were satisfying after their screeching from earlier.

After one last gasp of pain, the sword unlodged from Ky's chest. Somehow no blood stained the blade, although he couldn't say the same for his robes. Humans had it rough if all it took was skipping breakfast and a sword through the chest to kill them. The hole wasn't small, either. It looked like a mole had burrowed in his skin.

Ky pretended to examine Yi's weapon. "Nice sword. I've seen sparkier."

Yi frowned. "Sorry my blade doesn't meet your spark requirements." Then he sent a dagger sailing at Ky's head.

This time, he was ready. Ky shifted his neck over just enough so the knife nicked his ear. Yi had finally let his guard down enough for Ky to throw out a tendril and wrap it around Yi's waist.

One gentle tug later and Yi's body came flying like a rag-doll, impaling himself on his own sword.

Ky kicked his corpse away. He already had enough blood on him.

_One down...however many left to go._

* * *

**Sorry for making you guys wait so long for what is essentially a filler chapter. Next one is still combat-filled, but it's much more important story wise.  
**

**One of the reasons i take so long to update is that I'm still in school and still learning writing techniques and vocab. and other stuff as I go, so i like to incorporate that as much as possible in my writing. Next chapter SHOULDN'T take as long, but no promises.**


	14. Whoops (Long overdue story update)

**Hey guys, sorry for the bullshit notification for a new chapter, but I had some things I really wanted to explain as I haven't updated this story in SUCH A LONG TIME even though I have been active. At first, it was mainly an abundance of schoolwork, but I found that even when I DID have some free time, I'd end up spending it playing games online with my friends (I know that's not a great excuse, but...never mind, end of sentence.) And when I DID get around to writing for this story, and believe me guys, it is fun to write, I found that the farther I got into it, the more plot-holes I foresaw in the future. See, when I initially started it, I had a lot of good ideas and some good plot points and I knew where I wanted it to GO, but actually getting there was much more challenging than I thought without making up some bullshit up that people would cringe at when reading. Plus, I found that even going back to previous chapters, I was using quite a few story cliches and there was no visible end to them any time in the future. Needless to say, that's not what I want.**

**I do want to return to this at some point if I can figure out how too set up or what to change about the story, or just start from the beginning with minor tweeks to enhance the quality. I feel like if I were, I could do much better as at some points I'm not entirely proud with how the chapters came out. I know I can do a lot better, which is partially why I want to move on for now. I apologize again for those who were looking forward to the reading the rest of it, but I can't bring myself to continue work on something I know isn't my best.  
**

**In the meantime, I have another story I'm working on, set in the Undertale universe, and frankly I find my writing MUCH better in that story than in Archangel of Valoran and much more satisfying to work on. (Maybe it's just because of time/experience, IDK). Even if you're not into the whole Undertale-craze that's still going on, I already find the main protagonist to be WAY more interesting than Ky, and I'm only 3 chapters in so far, so I encourage you to check it out if you just can't get enough of this sexy, sexy font. **

**Looking forward to finishing this thing someday. Maybe I'll start working on it again over the summer. Who knows.  
**


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